peopledaily - An unidentified flying object (UFO) disrupted air traffic over Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou late on Wednesday, the municipal government said on Thursday.
Xiaoshan Airport was closed after the UFO was detected at around 9 pm, and some flights were rerouted to airports in the cities of Ningbo and Wuxi, said an airport spokesman, who declined to be named.
The airport had resumed operations, and more details will be released after an investigation, he said.
A source with knowledge of the matter, however, told China Daily on Thursday that authorities had learned what the UFO was after an investigation.
But it was not the proper time to publicly disclose the information because there was a military connection, he said, adding that an official explanation is expected to be given on Friday.
Inbound flights were diverted to the nearby airports in Zhejiang province's Ningbo and Jiangsu province's Wuxi. Outbound flights were delayed for three to four hours.
A staff member at the airport's information desk said the airport had "no idea" how many flights were affected by the closure.
At around 11 pm on Wednesday, a netizen wrote three entries announcing the airport's closure in his microblog at Sina.com, but they were all soon deleted.
He posted an apology at midnight, saying the news had not been confirmed and asking those who had republished his earlier entries to delete them.
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Oldest Person in the World Turns 130
dailymail - Authorities in the former Soviet republic of Georgia claim a woman from a remote mountain village turned 130, making her the oldest person on Earth.Antisa Khvichava from western Georgia was born on July 8, 1880, said Georgiy Meurnishvili, spokesman for the civil registry at the Justice Ministry.
The woman, who lives with her 40-year-old grandson in an idyllic vine-covered country house in the mountains, retired from her job as a tea and corn picker in 1965, when she was 85, records say.
'I've always been healthy, and I've worked all my life - at home and at the farm,' Antisa said, in a bright dress and headscarf - and red lipstick.
Sitting in the chair and holding her cane, Antisa spoke quietly through an interpreter - since she never went to school to learn Georgian and speaks only the local language, Mingrelian.
Her age couldn't immediately be independently verified. Her birth certificate was lost - one of the great number to have disappeared in the past century amid revolutions and a civil war which followed the collapse of the USSR.
But Meurnishvili showed two Soviet-era documents that he says attest to her age.
Scores of officials, neighbors, friends, and descendants backed up her claim as the world's top senior.
The Gerontology Research Group currently recognizes 114-year-old Eugenie Blanchard of Saint Barthelemy, France, as the world's oldest person. Antisa would make Eugenie look like a spring chicken - but the research group is yet to examine Antisa's claim.
She has a son, 10 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and six great, great grandchidren.
Her 70-year-old son Mikhail, who was also at the party, apparently was born when his mother was 60.
She said she also had two children from a previous marriage, but says they died of hunger during World War II.
Mikhail said that, although his mother had difficulty walking and had stayed largely in bed during the past seven years, she made a point of hobbling unaided to the outhouse on the other side of the yard, because she hates to be a nuisance.
Though her body has all but quit on her - her fingers cramped by age mean she can no longer maintain her love of knitting - relatives say her mind remains sharp.
'Grandma has a very clear mind and she hasn't lost an ability to think rationally,' said Khvichava's granddaughter Shorena, who lives in a nearby village.
To mark Antisa's birthday, a string ensemble played folk music out on the lawn, while grandchildren offered traditional Mingrelian dishes like corn porridge and spiced chicken with herbs to all guests as the party.
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Brazilian Footballer's Ex-Girlfriend Was Strangled, Fed to Dogs
bbc - The missing former lover of a top Brazilian football star was strangled and then fed to dogs, police say.
Eliza Samudio, 25, was a former girlfriend of Bruno Fernandes, goalkeeper for Flamengo, Brazil's most popular club.
He handed himself into police after a warrant was issued for his arrest over her disappearance nearly a month ago.
Mr Fernandes, 25, has denied any wrongdoing, and said he has a "clear conscience".
But police say a teenage cousin of Mr Fernandes has given evidence that the goalkeeper was involved in her kidnap and suspected murder.
Ms Samudio had said that the married footballer was the father of her baby.
Search for remains
Police say Ms Samudio was taken by force from a hotel in Rio de Janeiro on the day of her disappearance and was strangled in the city of Belo Horizonte.
They say her body was cut up and parts were fed to dogs, while the rest was buried under concrete.
Police are still searching for her remains, but say her death is "materially proven".
Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno Fernandes in a file photo from May Bruno Fernandes is team captain of Rio de Janeiro's Flamengo
Police have also arrested Mr Fernandes's wife, Dayane Souza, and several of his friends.
They say interrogation of the other suspects has backed up the account given by Mr Fernandes's teenage cousin.
Flamengo have suspended Mr Fernandes's contract and say the club lawyer will no longer be acting in his defence.
He had been goalkeeper of the Rio de Janeiro club since 2006, and captained them to the Brazilian championship last year.
Mr Fernandes has expressed regret that the allegations could damage his chances of playing for Brazil in the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.
NOTE: he regrets he may not play soccer in 4 years...but has no regret that his ex-lover was killed and fed to the dogs? Lon
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Witchcraft Doomed Cameroon World Cup Team
allafrica - The phenomenon of witchcraft in football resurfaced as a hot topic of debate in the Cameroonian media after Cameroon were eliminated from the 2010 World Cup. This situation has whipped up doubts as to the potency of witchdoctors who were part of the Cameroonian delegation.
During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, one of Africa's supposed strongest contenders, Cameroon, had a strong team of witchdoctors in their delegation. However, the Indomitable Lions were one of the first teams to be sacked from the competition.
In the aftermath of their elimination, many Cameroonians joined in what has become a national debate on the Lions' failure to proceed to the second round.
In the streets of Yaounde and in drinking spots around the government ministries, there is passionate debate on why the government allocated huge sums of money to the players, staff and a number of witchdoctors in the delegation, only for them to put on a poor performance.
The debate even reached the Cameroon National Assembly at the end of its June session. During the heated plenary session, Hon. Abakar Mahamat from the Logon and Shari constituency of the far north region, expressed the bitterness of Cameroonians. He sought to know why the Lions put up such a dismal performance after huge sums of tax payers' money were disbursed to the team, what happened to the balance of the money and what measures could be taken to take the Lions and football out of the abyss.
The question to the Sport Minister was hinged on the fact that the performance of players was not commensurate to huge sums spent for the 2010 South African trip.
Answering the parliamentarians, the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Michel Zoah on July 2, declared that, "witchcraft, besides mysticism, internal wrangling, jealousy and disorder was the cause of the Lions debacle".
The declaration seems to confirm allegations of a witchdoctor, Adamou Amadou, at the Melen Market neighbourhood in Yaoundé who claims that, "players always consult witchdoctors whenever their performance seems to fade, as was the case with the Lions' striker Samuel Eto'o Fils. He had to go to Gashiga in Garoua to regain his ability to play again".
The witchcraft debate has taken a wider dimension owing to the fact that witchdoctors were part of the official delegation to the African Cup of Nations in Angola and recently in South Africa, unlike in the past when they were hardly noticed.
Jean Calvin, a journalist, confirms that he was lodged in the same hotel room with a witchdoctor called Dr. Eli, in Angola whose behaviour was "absurd."
"He carried about a box of matches but does not smoke, lit candles in broad daylight and was seen in the company of weird persons," Calvin said about the witchdoctor. It was therefore an open secret amongst journalists that witchdoctors like Dr. Eli were amongst the juju men present in South Africa.
These witchdoctors were given special treats using tax payers' money. They received transportation fare, accommodation, and it is rumoured that they got the same 45million FRS as the players. Government officials have, however, denied such allegations. They did, though, receive an allowance from the Ministry of Sports like every member of the delegation and not the football federation.
Cameroonians have expressed indignation at the squandering of public funds and questioned the importance of witchdoctors if they could not use their magic in Cameroon's favour.
A famous Indomitable Lions photographer, Ebanga Maurice, who covered the World Cup, exclaimed after the Cameroonians lost to Denmark in Tshwane, Pretoria, "Look at them, heads down in shame, what is the use of witch doctors if they cannot deliver the goods?" he said, booing the witch doctors.
Claiming that he was not aware of the witchdoctors at Lions' Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga in Durban, the Team Press Officer, Linus Pascal Fouda acknowledges that they were part of the delegation, presented to him as the federation's administrators. But he questions, "What were they doing and what purpose did they serve?"
Many have wondered why church services were organised to pray for the Lions on the eve and on departure to South Africa at the Yaounde Nsimalen Airport only to fall back on witchdoctors.
Why did the witchdoctors fail in South Africa?
Many Cameroonians like Essambe Livinus who hails from the Southwest region known for witchcraft practices, point to the fact that the selection of witchdoctors that travelled to South Africa was based on influence, relationship and kickbacks for their mentors.
Adamou, the witchdoctor who claims to have spent six months under the waters of River Benue in the northern region, seems to agree, "Witchdoctors from the south region of the country are selected even if they do not possess any powers".
Adamou seems to hold to the fact that witchdoctors are of different calibres. Those from the north, Bassas and Bamelikes, are held in high esteem, though he chips in, "If I had been contacted, Cameroon would have gone to the quarter finals".
Witchcraft practices seem to have taken Cameroonian society hostage as Essambe Livinus confirms that witchcraft is not just in football.
"Ahead of cabinet shake up, government officials indulge in witchcraft practices such as sleeping in the cemetery and at the municipal lake to be appointed to ministerial positions," he says.
But has black magic ever worked in football?
Adamou, the witchdoctor, is confident that black magic works for football. He narrates how such practices work, "All I need to do is have a name of one player from the opposite side and I either make them fall, unable to run, tie their legs, or have the opponents miss their balls". He further boosts, "I made Kameni, the Lions' goalkeeper, move to France. I equally work for the presidency".
However, the power of magic in football is gradually waning and Cameroonians are now realising that football scores cannot be manipulated by incantations and magic.
If Cameroon had gone beyond the first round to the semi-finals stage, many like Adamou would have tapped their feet and beaten their chest that they had done it.
Essambe Livinus thinks that technology is the best witchdoctor as, "matches can now be viewed critically for a better evaluated taking into account speed, techniques to counter the opponent." To him, society has evolved and there is need to abandon certain practices.
Fortean / Oddball News - 7/9/2010
