[Straits Times] THE fossil of a car sized mega-wombat has been unearthed in northern Australia, scientists said on Wednesday - the most complete skeleton of its kind.
Weighing in at a whopping three tonnes, the herbivorous diprotodon was the largest marsupial to ever roam the earth and lived between two million and 50,000 years ago.
A relative of the modern-day wombat, the diprotodon skeleton was dug up in remote Queensland last week - the most northerly specimen ever discovered - and scientists believe it could shed valuable light on the species' demise.
Along with Australia's other megafauna, which included towering kangaroos and gigantic crocodiles, diprotodon became extinct around the same time that indigenous tribes first appeared and debate has raged about the role of humans.
'There's been a lot of debate about what killed the megafauna and it's quite a hot topic in paleontology,' Sue Hand, a professor on the team that made the discovery, told AFP.
'Dating has been one of the bugbears of trying to unravel what happened,' she said. 'It will be very interesting to see its age and if people came in first, for instance, from the north. There could be some very interesting data to be extracted from this find.' The animal was two metres tall (6 feet, six inches) and 3.5 metres (11 feet, six inches) long, and was the size of a rhinoceros or a car, pigeon-toed and with a backward-facing pouch, she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Its gonna be hell trying to cook that thingy in coconut milk.
#2
The animal was two metres tall (6 feet, six inches) and 3.5 metres (11 feet, six inches) long, and was the size of a rhinoceros or a car, pigeon-toed and with a backward-facing pouch, she said
I think I saw her on Jerry Springer
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/07/2011 9:57 Comments ||
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#3
Her name was "Betty", and she was just big-boned.
[Emirates 24/7] Soddy Arabia's ailing Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz ... who is approximately 108 years old...
has undergone an operation in a New York hospital, an official at the kingdom's consulate in the US metropolis told AFP on Wednesday. What? Not the Cleveland Clinic?
"He is in New York. He has been operated on," said the official, who declined to be named discussing private matters of the royal family and did not provide further details.
Sultan, who is believed to be in his eighties and has served as defense minister for the past five decades, has been receiving medical treatment for the last two years.
The nature of his illness officially has never been revealed, although analysts and diplomats believe it to be cancer.
The official Saudi Press Agency reported in mid-June that the crown prince would make a private visit to the United States, during which he would undergo a medical examination.
Sultan, who is the half-brother of King Abdullah, has spent several lengthy stays outside Soddy Arabia in recent years, returning from Morocco to the kingdom, a key US ally, last November shortly before the king left to the United States for treatment of a back ailment.
The 86-year-old monarch's advanced age and the health of the crown prince have highlighted the delicate issue of succession in the kingdom, a major player in Middle East politics and the world's number one oil supplier.
Prince Nayef, Sultan's full brother and considered second in line to the throne, has also had unspecified treatment in the past 20 months. Now in his mid-70s, Nayef has been interior minister for 35 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2011 00:00 ||
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Did he verify beforehand that none of the doctors is Jewish?
(KUNA) -- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso Wednesday expressed his regret over yesterday's decision by credit rating agency Moody's to downgrade Portuguese debt to junk status.
"I deeply regret the decision of one rating agency to downgrade the Portuguese sovereign debt and I regret it both in terms of its timing and its magnitude. It adds speculative elements to the situation," he told a presser in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
"European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... decisions on financial matters are not based on market players position but on the objective assessments of the European Commission and the European Central Bank," he said.
Moody's suggested that there is a "growing risk" that Portugal will require a second bailout and that this will include some form of private sector creditor participation.
Portugal has already been granted a EUR-78-billion bailout by the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Barroso, a former Portuguese Prime Minister, encouraged his country to continue on the path defined by the EU and added "our institutions know Portugal a little bit better," than the rating agencies.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2011 00:00 ||
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The US government is said to be working on a plan to avoid a historic default should Congress fail to lift the country's legal borrowing limit by the start of next month.
Senior officials at the US Treasury are reported to be examining a range of options that will allow the government to continue to make interest payments on its borrowings if an agreement is not struck by August 2, the date the Treasury has said the $14.3 trillion (£9 trillion) borrowing limit will be reached.
Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, has repeatedly said there is no contingency plan for fear of undermining the sense of urgency needed for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to agree. A Treasury spokesman said yesterday there was no alternative.
Both parties, as well as White House representatives, have been in tense negotiations in recent weeks over the limit but remain divided. The Republicans are seeking cuts to spending as part of the plan, while Democrats are focused on repealing tax breaks for the wealthy.
Analysts say a plan to avoid default even without agreement being reached may involve delaying payments to the recipients of Social Security. The Treasury is likely to have a gap of about $134bn between its receipts and the revenue it takes in next month, according to the BiPartisan Policy Center.
[Dawn] Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) and Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Wednesday agreed to work together as a joint opposition in the National, Provincial assemblies and Senate on key national issues, DawnNews reported.
Leaders from both parties met here and discussed the formation of a 'grand opposition alliance.' Raza Haroon, Haider Abbs Rizvi and Waseem Akhtar represented the MQM in the meeting while the PML-N was represented by Ishaq Dar, Saad Rafique, Mushaidullah and Pervez Rashid.
A joint statement read out by Haider Abbas Rizvi said that the two parties would work together on key national issues such as inflation, loadshedding, law and order situation, corruption and AJK elections 'rigging.'
Senator Ishaq Dar said both parties will play the part of a stronger opposition in lawful and constitutional manner.
He added that both parties had set aside their differences and decided to work together in the interest of the country.
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07/07/2011 00:00 ||
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The parents of President Barack Obama made plans to have their unborn son adopted by the Salvation Army, according to part of an immigration document made public for the first time.
A U.S. appeals court advanced the cause of gays and lesbians in the military on Wednesday by ordering the immediate end of a policy that prevented them from serving openly.
President Barack Obama last year signed a landmark law repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that forced gays to keep their sexual orientation secret if they want to be in the military. The issue of military service has long been a key issue for the gay community, along with same-sex marriage.
The Pentagon has been in the process of writing rules for the new policy. However, the appeals court's ruling on Wednesday could speed up that process.
"At this very moment someone could go into a recruiting office and say they were an openly gay or lesbian individual, and hypothetically that recruiting office should enlist that individual," said David Cruz, a professor at University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Last year, a California district court judge found that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy violated the U.S. Constitution, and issued an injunction. But the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals put that injunction on hold as the Department of Justice appealed the ruling.
Even with his support for ending the 18-year-old policy, Obama's Justice Department asked the appeals court to keep the injunction in place to give the military more time to prepare for admitting gay soldiers.
#1
Last year, a California district court judge found that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy violated the U.S. Constitution, and issued an injunction.
Article 1 - The Legislative Branch
Section 8 - Powers of Congress
...
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
#5
Ah, yes, Major Gaylord's Battalion.They patrolled the Ho Blo Woods, if I remember correctly. You remember the Ho Blo Woods, dont you?.. its was a haven for small but very dangerous Vietnamese Piccolo players.
The Ho Blo Woods were located in Bint Duong Province 20 km north of Hoochi Cu Chi, 4 km to the west of the Pink Triangle and the Saigon River and some 56 km northwest of Saigon Red Lght District. The woods consisted of rubber plantations,( they supply the world's resource for Rubbers) sparse to dense woods owned mostly by Frenchmen, and open rice paddies with some extremely large dykes, some 12 metres high. The woods were used by the Viet Cong Piccolo players as a base area.
During Operation San Francisco from 29 March to 5 April 1966, the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment( ARMY ) also known as the Screaming Meemies attacked the woods and discovered that the Viet Cong had built extensive bunker and tunnels systems with some of the tunnels three or four levels deep. It was furnished all in Pink and the decor was" FAB-ulous!"
Posted by: de Medici ||
07/07/2011 17:58 Comments ||
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#7
*Nobody* expects the French Grammar Police! Our chief weapon is surprise, surprise and fear, fear and surprise. Our *two* weapons are fear and surprise, and ruthless efficiency. Our *three* weapons are fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical dedication to the language. Our *four*... No... Amongst our weapons... Amongst our weaponry are such elements as fear, sur- I'll come in again.
[leaves]
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Straits Times] THE fossil of a car sized mega-wombat has been unearthed in northern Australia, scientists said on Wednesday - the most complete skeleton of its kind.
[Emirates 24/7] 
(KUNA) -- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso Wednesday expressed his regret over yesterday's decision by credit rating agency Moody's to downgrade Portuguese debt to junk status.
[Dawn] 
