RARE TWO-TONE LOBSTER FOUND IN MAINE, USA

BOWDOINHAM, Maine — It's not quite winning the lottery, but the odds are about as remote: A lobsterman off the coast of Maine recently hauled in an almost perfectly two-tone lobster — half orange, half brown.

The chances, according to scientists, are approximately 1 in 50 million.

"It looked as if someone had taken painter's tape and run it from proboscis to tail, then spray-painted one side. It's a perfectly straight line," said Alan Lishness, of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. "You don't usually see such hard edges in nature."

American lobsters are typically greenish-brown in color, and become red only after boiling.

• The lobster was caught by Jeff Edwards, a lobsterman from Owl's Head, who kept it to show friends and family and then brought it to Ship to Shore Lobster Co., a local fisherman's wharf, according to co-owner Anna Mason.
• "We've had blue ones and calico ones, but we'd never seen anything like this," said Mason.
• After photographing the lobster, the lobsterman donated it to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, a nonprofit marine science center in Portland, which keeps lobsters in a tank for children's education programs.

"This one just stops people in their tracks," said the institute's Lishness. "Even people who've seen thousands of lobsters just can't believe it."

Lishness said the split-colored lobster is far more uncommon than the yellow or blue lobster, which both make occasional appearances along the Maine Coast, but is at least twice as likely to turn up in a lobster trap than an albino, the rarest of all lobster mutations.

Yet, despite its two-tone rarity, perhaps the fact that a Halloween-colored lobster also turned up last October speaks to the recent lobster harvests.

Source: MSN

ALL 25,000 CANDIDATES TAKE LIBERIAN UNIVERSITY ENTRY EXAM, FAIL?

The University of Liberia. Number of applicants this year: nearly 25,000. Number gaining admission: zero.

MONROVIA, Liberia - The "epic fail" of every single candidate in the admission exam provoked bafflement, consternation and heated debate on Tuesday, with some convinced that flaws in Liberia's education system had been brutally exposed. A government minister likened it to "mass murder".

At first it appeared there would no freshers at west Africa's oldest degree-granting institution when the new academic year gets under way next month. But then an intervention by president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf forced the university to back down and give places to a lucky 1,800.

According to university officials, the applicants lacked enthusiasm and did not have a basic grasp of English. Spokesman Momodu Getaweh told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the university stood by its decision and would not be swayed by emotion. "In English, the mechanics of the language, they didn't know anything about it. So the government has to do something."

Liberia was devastated by a bloody civil war in the 1990s and the rule of president Charles Taylor, but Getaweh said the country was running out of excuses. "The war has ended 10 years ago now. We have to put that behind us and become realistic."

The current president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, recently admitted that the education system was "in a mess" and in need of reform. But this is the first time that all students who took the exam, which entails payment of a $25 (£16) fee, failed.

• The Voice of America (VOA) reported that the university hired a private consultant to manage and administer this year's entrance exam.
• The consultant, James Dorbor Jallah, told the VOA: "There is a perception in our society largely that once you take the University of Liberia admission exam, if you do not pay money to someone, or if you do not have appropriate connections, you would not be placed on the results list. So, the university has been grappling with how they could manage the process whereby people's abilities would be truly measured on the basis of their performance in the examination."
• Liberia could draw a lesson from the mass failure, he added. "For the country as a whole, I think this is a clarion call that we need to all see that the king is moving around naked and not pretend as though the emperor has his finest clothes on."

Earlier, Etmonia David-Tarpeh (photo), the national education minister, expressed doubts over the dismal showing. 

"I know there are a lot of weaknesses in the schools but for a whole group of people to take exams and every single one of them to fail, I have my doubts about that," she told the BBC. "It's like mass murder."

David-Tarpeh said she knew some of the applicants and the schools they went to.

The University of Liberia was established in 1862 as Liberia College and became a university in 1951.

Source: The Guardian

AN AMERICAN FINE FOR SWALLOWING HUMAN TOE IN CANADIAN DOWSON CITY

DAWSON CITY, Yukon, Canada - An American swallowed the toe in Downtown Hotel in Dawson City bar. A place famous for Sourtoe Cocktail .

The American swallowed his drink with the toe in it, put five hundred dollars on the table.

The toe is part of a famous Dawson City tradition which involves drinking a shot of whisky. The toe is usually dropped into the glass and the drinker must have the toe touch their lips.

The posted "fine" for swallowing the toe was $500.

Terry Lee the "toe captain" in the bar that night. says he was told the man is an American who had been living in Dawson for the summer. The man was said to have just picked up his rent deposit because he was leaving town.

Lee says it's not the first time the toe has been swallowed but he believes this is the first time it was deliberate.

The fine for swallowing the toe has now been raised to $2500.

Lee says the tradition will continue as the bar had a backup toe. Over the years, more than eight toes have gone missing or been stolen or destroyed.

• It's estimated that more than 60,000 people have paid for the privilege of drinking a shot of Yukon Gold whiskey featuring this genuine human toe.
• Lee says he and the hotel, which owned the last toe, are hoping another one will be donated.

 Source: CBC

GUNMEN FORCE FISHERMAN TO GUIDE THEM TO A RESORT INSTEAD TAKEN TO ARMY CAME

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia -  A group of about 20 heavily-armed gunmen abducted a fisherman and demanded to be guided to a holiday resort on Pulau Mabul, in Sabah Malaysian Borneo. However they were taken to an army camp on the island instead.

The incident began when the fisherman, who was in his boat, was approached by a speedboat off Pulau Umadal at about 6.30pm on Tuesday.

Garbed in dark clothes and armed with shotguns and pistols, the gunmen forced the fisherman to board their vessel and guide them towards Pulau Mabul where several resorts were located.

Upon approaching the island, the gunmen spotted a number of red lights on the shore, which fisherman said indicated the location of a resort.

As they got closer, the gunmen realised that it was a military camp and quickly turned their vessel around, heading towards Philippines waters.

The gunmen then spotted another fishing boat with eight men on board and forced them to board their vessel as well.

After several hours, one of the gunmen asked the nine fishermen what their race and religion were.

• When told that all were Suluk and Muslim, the gunmen guided their boat close to another fishing vessel before ordering them to jump into the sea.
• When contacted, Semporna district police chief Deputy Supt Mohd Firdaus Francis Abdullah said the incident occurred between 6.30 and 9.30pm on Tuesday.
• "All victims were fishermen from around Semporna. As soon as they were freed and reached shore, they reported the incident to us,” he said.
• "We are trying to determine where the group originated from based on the information from the abducted fishermen," Firdaus added.

Source: The Star Online

INDIAN POLICEWOMEN LEAD HARASSMENT CRACKDOWN

MUMBAI, India - Fed up with daily sexual harassment of women on their beat, a team of female constables in India have taken to incognito motorbike patrols to banish loitering men from public places.

Jyotipriya Singh, additional superintendent of police in the western city of Kolhapur, led the initiative with her deputy last week, scouring the streets and targeting youths hanging around for no reason, especially on college campuses.

“We took a drive and checked various public places and we went in civilian dress so we could see who was loitering around,” Singh told AFP. “Women were getting lewd remarks.”

Video footage on local news websites shows young men running away from the female plainclothes police and their male colleagues, who chase and slap the miscreants in return.

Singh said they took action against 88 males — either by giving warnings to them or their parents, or alerting other local police stations.

“The people are so happy about the drive, as they are daily getting harassment from these bystanders,” Singh said.

Sex crimes in India have been in the spotlight since the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December sparked nationwide anger, which was reignited last week with another gang-rape of a young woman in Mumbai.

Earlier this year, India passed a tougher law against rape, but Singh strongly believes that preventive action against sexual harassment is key.

She has called on police stations in the city in Maharashtra state to raise awareness, hold workshops and encourage women to come forward about harassment.

The idea of the patrol, she said, was to check these initiatives are working, but she remained tight-lipped about the timing of future crackdowns, saying that a “surprise element” is important to be effective.

“If we can prevent molestation with this drive, I think we can prevent a future rape,” she said.

Source: AFP

BAN MISS WORLD, SAY INDONESIA CLERICS ?

One of Indonesia’s most influential Islamic groups is urging the government to cancel the Miss World pageant scheduled for next month, saying the exposure of skin by women in a competition violates Muslim teachings, an official said Monday.

A top-level meeting of clerics was held earlier this month by the Indonesian Ulema Council to respond to protests from some groups over Indonesia’s hosting of the event, even after organisers agreed to cut the bikini competition and instead outfit contestants in more conservative sarongs, council chairman Amidan Shaberah said.

“Our position is clear, we reject Indonesia being the host of Miss World,” Shaberah said. “Because exposing their bodies in a contest is against Islamic teachings.”

The council is an influential Islamic body that often issues fatwas, or edicts, including controversial rulings against smoking and yoga. 

• Though not legally binding, many devoted Muslims follow such decrees because ignoring them is considered a sin.

Source: ABC....More...