Leopard killed after Mauling six in India

A leopard that mauled 11 people in a fierce fight Tuesday with Indian villagers has died of knife wounds after being captured.

The snarling adult male leopard leapt at locals and forest officials as they tried to drive it into a wildlife sanctuary in a village near Siliguri in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.

Forest official Dharma Dev Rai says villagers used knives, stones and batons to beat back the cat. It injured six villagers, a policeman and four forest guards before being hit with a tranquilizer gun.

The people are recovering from their injuries, mostly swipes from the cat’s claws. Leopards are protected in India, though more are straying into villages for food.

Police were called to the village on the edge of a forest reserve after residents chased the animal into an abandoned house, where it pounced on the back of one officer as he tried to tranquillize it. The animal fled, but was found a few hours later in bushes at the edge of the village.

“The forest guards were able to locate it and as they were approaching the spot in an open-hood vehicle the leopard pounced on them,” said local forest ranger Kanchan Banerjee. “Three policemen were severely injured in the incident that led to a scuffle between the animal and the policemen.”

Mr. Banerjee said police had attacked the animal with knives and batons to free their colleague.

The leopard was eventually tranquillized, but it died later that day. Leopard attacks are increasingly frequent across India as human populations rise and the animal’s traditional wildlife habitat deteriorates.

One of World's Smallest Pit Viper Found

A new snake species -Protobothrops maolanensis found in China is one of the littlest pit vipers in the world.

During a recent survey of forests in Maolan National Nature Reserve in Guizhou - China, the species was found by Yang and colleagues. At a maximum length of about 2.6 feet (0.7 meter), the new pit viper is the smallest known so far in the country.

Though the grayish brown species easily blends into its habitat, the ground-dwelling species ended up being the most common snake found during the research, noted Yang, of Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou.

Scientists have found two other new pit vipers in China so far in 2011: Sinovipera sichuanensis and Protobothrops maolanensis, he added.

The group of snakes known as pit vipers includes well-known species such as the copperhead, the rattlesnake, and the water moccasin. All known pit vipers are venomous, although their potency varies across species.

The toxicity of the new pit viper species is not yet known, but "kindly local peoples warned me that this snake is very poisonous," Yang added. "They said that some local peoples had been bit by this snake and then got poisoning—one was dead who had not got treatment in time."

Yang's team also found dead snakes that had been killed by people—the Miao, a local minority, believe that a snake encountered in the wild will bring bad luck unless it's killed immediately, he said.

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Radioactive Meat circulating on Japanese Market

On Tuesday, a Japanese health official downplayed the dangers after cesium contaminated meat from six Fukushima cows was delivered to Japanese markets and probably ingested.

Goshi Hosono, state minister in charge of consumer affairs and food-safety, said he hoped to head off any overreactions.

"If we were to eat the meat every day, then it would probably be dangerous," Hosono said at a news conference Tuesday. "But if it is consumed only in small portions, I don't think it would have any long-lasting effects on the human body."

The meat, distributed late last month, has made its way to consumers and most likely has been ingested, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Monday evening. This was preceded by another recent discovery of radiation in the meat of 11 cows delivered to Tokyo from the same farm.

The discovery was made when Tokyo's office of health and welfare investigated six deliveries made at the end of June from a Fukushima farm. So far, radiation has been confirmed from three out of the six cows. In one case, radiation reached 3400 Becquerels, which is about seven times the limit set by the government.

When the Fukushima Prefectural Government, on Monday, investigated the farm from which the meat was delivered, cesium was found in cattle feed such as hay, with radiation levels as much as 57 times higher than the ceiling set by the Japanese government.

Up until now, cattle in Fukushima were only subject to a screening test, to inspect for radioactive particles adhering to the skin, and farmers were ordered to self-report how it the cattle feed was being stocked.

Yutaka Kashimura, Fukushima Prefecture's officer in charge of the livestock division, told CNN that the farmer may have given the cows hay that had been exposed to soil containing high levels of radiation. The farm is situated at about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Fukushima Prefectural government announced that it will check on all the farms in the prefecture to determine if the stored cattle feed is being protected from radiation. More than 500 farms will be inspected before the end of the week and nearly 2,800 by the end of the month.

On Saturday, the health and welfare office at Tokyo Metropolitan government found that meat from 11 cows from a Fukushima farm, which was about to be delivered, contained high levels of radiation. As a precaution, the office was ordered to trace meat from six cows from the same farm and realized that the meat is now circulating not only in Tokyo, but all over Japan.

No health problems linked to the incident been reported, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government told CNN.

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Baidu teams up with Microsoft to Offer English Search

Microsoft Corp. has signed a deal with China’s leading Internet search engine - Baidu, to offer its English-language search functions to Chinese users.

The agreement, which was announced Monday, comes more than a year after Google Inc. pulled out of China largely over disagreements about censorship and ceded just under half its market share to Baidu.

The Chinese Internet giant has long struggled to match Google’s English search capabilities and is likely to introduce Microsoft Bing by the end of the year, albeit one that will have to stick on to the country’s ever-expanding censorship rules.

To be sure, the overwhelming majority of Baidu users access the search engine for Chinese results. The company commands 83% of the domestic search market in the world’s largest Internet community with over 470 million users.

“It’s a non-trivial matter to build your own index of English pages, so why not partner with someone who already does that well?” said Kaiser Kuo, a spokesman for Baidu. “It’s all about serving the needs of our users.” Kuo said the deal could also make Baidu more competitive in search markets outside of China. “We’ll learn quite a bit,” he said. “And that certainly will help us venture into other markets with our core search product.”

The deal gives Microsoft a huge foothold in China for Bing, whose presence is currently negligible.

Edward Yu, head of Analysys International, a consultancy specializing in the Chinese web industry, said Microsoft is more proficient at navigating Chinese politics than Google ever was.

China's Army develops Video Game to train Soldiers

China's People's Liberation Army has developed its first online military game, called "The Glorious Mission," to train soldiers in combat skills and technological awareness, the China Daily reported.

The online game is a first-person shooter and players can take part in individual or group missions. The game, which features PLA weaponry and realistic battle scenarios, took 32 months to develop, the newspaper reported.

"I think it is possible the game will be made open online for Chinese military fans to download and play," an unnamed PLA publicity officer was quoted as saying.

The final version of the game was launched on June 20.

China, home to the world's largest Internet market by users, has more than 300 million online gamers, according to government statistics.

China's online game market was worth 8.5 billion yuan ($1.31 billion) in the first quarter.

Tencent Holdings Ltd had a 28.8 percent share of the market, followed by Shanda Games Ltd with 17.7 percent and NetEase.com Inc with 17.4 percent, according to data from Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.

Miss USA 2011 Winner: Alyssa Campanella of California

A 21-year-old auburn-haired California girl won the Miss USA crown on Sunday night and will represent the nation in this year's Miss Universe pageant in September in Brazil.

Alyssa Campanella of Los Angeles topped a field of 51 beauty queens to take the title at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. She strutted across the stage in a blue bikini with white polka dots and a dark turquoise evening gown with beading on its top.

She also answered a question about legalizing marijuana by saying she didn't think it should be fully legalized as a solution to help ailing economies.

"Well, I understand why that question would be asked, especially with today's economy, but I also understand that medical marijuana is very important to help those who need it medically," she said. "I'm not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war. I mean, it's abused today, unfortunately, so that's the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it's OK."

Miss Tennessee Ashley Durham was the first runner-up, while contestants from Alabama and Texas placed third and fourth.

Campanella replaces Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih. The Michigan woman teared up as she walked across the stage for a final goodbye.

The pageant had three competitions: swimsuit, evening gown and interview question.

The contestants were whittled to 16 after the show's opening number, in which the beauty queens introduced themselves one-by-one. The top 16 were picked by preliminary judges through competitions and interviews during the week before the telecast. Celebrity judges picked the top eight after the swimsuit competition and the top 4 after the evening gown portion.

Man erects World’s Tallest Sand Castle, Yet again

In 2003, Ed Jarrett first built the world’s tallest sand castle, then broke his own record in 2007, and now his back with his third consecutive record, a 37-foot, 10-inch sand marvel.

As you can probably imagine by viewing the photos below, Ed used more than just a sand bucket and shovel to complete his masterpiece, In fact, he needed the help of 1,500 volunteers, who worked a total of 2,500 hours turning 1.6 million pounds of sand into a record-breaking castle.

Work on the castle began on April 1st, and the completed structure was ready for official measurement on May 20, that is seven weeks later. According to Laura Ward, public relations official for Jarrett’s Castle, the work was initially supposed to be even taller, at 38 feet and 75 inches, but after a blue bird decided to scrape the top of the castle and meteorologists announced hostile weather conditions, the team hurried to get the sand castle certified before it got even shorter. Still, at 37 feet, 10 inches, Jarrett’s Castle is still easily the tallest sand castle in the world.

Dinosaur Skeletons hit Auction Block in Dallas

Private collectors have acquired dinosaur bones as part of more than $5.3 million in rare items sold at auction in Dallas.

Heritage Auction says an allosaurus and a stegosaurus, in an offering known as the Fighting Pair, sold for nearly $2.75 million Sunday.

The Dallas-based auction house declined to disclose the buyer, other than saying the bones would head for an overseas museum.

The Dallas Morning News reported Monday that 430 bidders took part in the auction, which also featured a stuffed polar bear, a rare fossilized bird egg and precious gems.

A set of 11-foot-by-9-foot shark jaws did not sell. The items will remain on loan to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science.

Nintendo Introduces Wii-U -- a Next Generation Touchscreen Console

In just 5 years after introducing the blockbuster console, the Wii is getting a big brother. Presenting -- the Wii U.

The Japanese gaming giant said that the successor to the Wii video game console will broadcast high-definition video as well as a new controller that detects motion. Unlike the last generation Wii though, this new controller also sports a touch screen with the ability to broadcast video.

Nintendo Co. revealed Wii U during the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

"Up until now, home console games had to occupy the TV screen in order to be played," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. "The new controller for Wii U, with its 6.2-inch screen built in, means you won't need to give up your game play when someone else comes in the room and wants to watch a TV program."

The white 6.2-inch touch-screen controller features a directional pad, microphone, dual analog sticks, two speakers, pairs of shoulder buttons and a front-facing camera.

The console itself will use proprietary high-definition optical discs, 1080p HDMI output and internal memory that can be upgraded with USB technology. Nintendo says Wii U will be compatible with Wii games and controllers and the system will be released between April and December next year.

The price of the new system was not announced. The company has been looking to recharge growth after an extended sales slump, as the initial rush for the original Wii has died down while their new 3D handheld, the 3DS was viewed as an overall disappointment.

Nintendo showed only early game concepts that could get the most out of the new touch-screen controller.

"This is going to be able to create what I call a new format or new structure of entertainment," Mr. Iwata told the Wall Street Journal in an interview prior to the E3 presentation. "By taking advantage of this new structure of entertainment, great new ideas can be popped up by developers."The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Twitter Adding a Photo-Sharing Feature

Twitter is going ahead of 140 characters by including a photo-sharing service. The social network is rolling out an image-hosting aspect to users over the next couple of weeks, CEO Dick Costolo declared on Wednesday at the All Things Digital conference here.

Users will be able to upload photos through Twitter's website to start, with desktop and mobile applications coming later, Costolo said. To construct the service's backbone, Twitter partnered with Photobucket, which already hosts more than 8 billion photos and videos. The Twitter service will accept only still images.

"Photobucket is excited to be chosen to power this extension of Twitter," Photobucket CEO Tom Munro said in an e-mailed statement. "We are confident that together we can seamlessly provide a simple, intuitive photo sharing experience for Twitter users"

Twitter is also in discussion with cellular carriers to enable people to tweet photos using a phone's picture-messaging system, Twitter said in a statement.

The new photo feature coincides with changes to Twitter's search function. Results pages will now include popular photos and videos alongside text. The videos will be pulled from websites such as YouTube and Vimeo.

Several third-party photo services, such as Twitpic and Yfrog, have specifically targeted Twitter users. Costolo said Twitter created its own service to make the process easier for less tech-savvy people.

A survey competed this month by the Pew Research Center says 13% of U.S. adults with Web access use Twitter.

'Oprah Winfrey Show' comes to a Close after 25 Years

On Wednesday, Oprah Winfrey ended her famous talk show by telling her viewers of 25 years that they weren't saying goodbye.

"I won't say goodbye, I'll just say until we meet again," Winfrey said. She hugged and kissed her longtime partner Stedman Graham and shook hands with audience members before walking through the halls of Harpo Studios in Chicago, hugging and crying with her staff.

Winfrey shouted "We did it!" The last shot of the finale showed Winfrey walking away with her cocker spaniel, Sadie. Earlier Winfrey walked on stage to a standing ovation from her studio audience. She thanked the viewers for watching for a quarter of a century. "Twenty-five years and I'm still saying, `Thank you America,"' Winfrey said. "Thank you so much. There are no words to match this moment."
The final "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which was taped in Chicago on Tuesday, opened with a clip from her first show. Winfrey was the only person on stage with little background music and very short flashback clips.

Winfrey announced in November 2009 that she would end her popular talk show after 25 years.

Tuesday's taping came a week after Hollywood A-listers and 13,000 fans bid Winfrey farewell in a double-episode extravaganza at Chicago's United Center. The shows that aired Monday and Tuesday included Aretha Franklin, Tom Cruise, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jordan and Madonna, among other stars of television, music and movies. They were just a few of the approximately 30,000 guests who have appeared on the show over 25 years.

The bare-bones final taping nevertheless had its share of celebrities in the audience including Tyler Perry, Maria Shriver, Suze Orman and Cicely Tyson. None of them joined Winfrey on stage.

There were 404 audience members, according to Harpo Productions. The show received 1.4 million ticket requests throughout its final season, the company said.

German wins World Best Beard Title at Norway Contest

 

A German hairdresser has won the title of world's best beard at the World Beard and Moustache Championship in Trondheim, Norway.

Elmar Weisser, 47, beat 160 contestants to the prize with his elaborate facial hair sculpture of a moose.

It is the third time Mr Weisser has emerged as champion. In 2005 he won with with a beard styled into the shape of Berlin's Brandenberg Gate, and in 2007 with a representation of London Bridge.

He said he had begun preparing his creation for the Trondheim event at 7am, with the help of his sister.

"When my beard isn't styled, it goes down to my waist. It is sort of folded up," he told the AFP news agency.

The World Beard and Moustache Championship has been running every two years since 1995 and its organisers say it is "the premier event in the international sport of bearding".

Contestants from all over the world compete in 14 categories, including natural goatee, sideburns freestyle, Hungarian moustache and imperial partial beard.

Organisers say the field has traditionally been dominated by Europeans but that the US, which has twice hosted the event, is fast becoming "the world's new facial hair super power".

Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.5 billion

 

Skype, the popular VoIP platform first launched in 2003, has been acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion. According to reps for both companies, Microsoft will get full access to Skype's range of desktop and mobile apps. Eventually, Microsoft will use Skype to help power in-house products such as the Xbox 360 and the fleet of Windows phones.

"Once the acquisition closes, Skype will become a new business division of Microsoft," Skype CEO Tony Bates wrote on the official company blog. "It is an exciting day for all of us at Skype –– we’ve taken a significant step towards realising our vision of making the world a better, more connected place." Fair enough. The Microsoft-Skype deal is certainly good for Skype. But is it really good for Microsoft?

Over at Wired, Peter Bright questions the thinking behind the buyout. "The purchase price is a phenomenal amount of money to spend on a company that has long struggled for profitability, and it’s hard to believe that it’s truly the most cost-effective way of getting access to telephony and VoIP technology," Bright writes. "Microsoft could build equivalent telephony infrastructure for much less, just as Google is doing for Google Voice."

Other analysts have posited that Microsoft purchased Skype in order to keep the service from being acquired by another tech giant. Google, for instance, had reportedly expressed interest in Skype as recently as this month; Larry Dignan of ZDNet argues that Cisco and Avaya could also have purchased the company, leaving Microsoft with one major-league headache.

China's Largest Unmanned Helicopter V750 makes 1st Flight

An unmanned helicopter, the largest of its kind in China, has successfully completed its first flight, Xinhua reported.

The unmanned helicopter, with a maximum take-off weight of 757 kg, was launched from the flight-test centre of the Weifang Tianxiang Aerospace Industry Co. Ltd. in Shandong province in east China. The chopper hovered for 10 minutes, performing a few manoeuvres before finishing with a stable landing.

The helicopter has a maximum load capacity of 80 kg. It can fly 500 km nonstop for more than four hours with a maximum speed of 161 km per hour. Its maximum operating altitude is 3,000 m.

China already has small unmanned helicopters with a takeoff weight of about 100 kg. Weifang Tianxiang Aerospace reportedly bought a U.S. aircraft engine company in 2009 with a view to developing medium-sized choppers.

The aircraft can be controlled from within a distance of 150 km or it can be automatically programmed. The helicopter would be useful in surveillance, search and rescue, and scientific exploration for both military and civilian purposes, said Cheng Shenzong, chairman of the Weifang Tianxiang Aerospace Industry Co. Ltd. 

Smokey wins Guinness record for Loudest Purr

A British shorthair cat has set a Guinness World Records title for having the loudest purr in the world.

Smokey the cat, 12, a grey and white tabby from Northampton, has been officially recognized as the world’s loudest purring domestic cat. During the Guinness record test, Smokey’s purr peaked at a record-setting 67.7 decibels, and she has been known to purr at home as loudly as 90 decibels — that's as loud as a lawnmower. Most domestic cats purr at around 25 decibels.

A car horn reaches 110 decibels, and a rock concert 120 decibels, Guinness said. The loudest animal sounds are the low-frequency pulses made by blue whales and fin whales, which can reach 188 decibels.

"It's incredible to think that a cat's purr can be as loud as a vacuum cleaner," said Guinness World Records' editor-in-chief Craig Glenday.

Smokey’s owner, Ruth Adams, adopted the tabby from an animal rescue center three years ago. Adams said that Smokey purrs almost all the time, except for when she is sleeping. Smokey first got into competitive purring when Adams started a loudest purr competition in Northampton to promote a charity called Cats Protection. A local community college recorded the purr and submitted it to Guinness.

BlackBerry's besieged Playbook Tablet deferred again

The release of BlackBerry's fledgling Playbook tablet to a major U.S. cellular network has been further delayed, AllThingsDigital reported Thursday.

The launch of the much-criticized device -- which was due out on the Sprint network this Sunday -- was indefinitely pushed back, BriefMobile first reported, citing a note from Sprint to its dealers.

While the PlayBook is still available directly from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) and from a handful of U.S. electronics retailers, it is still not supported by any major cellular carrier -- meaning it has to be connected to a traditional Wi-Fi network to connect to the Internet. Verizon Wireless said last week that it was not yet sure if it would carry the tablet.

Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM has been under siege lately after it warned sales of its flagship BlackBerry smartphones would be weak. That followed mostly negative reviews for the Playbook tablet, which despite buzz at January's Consumer Electronics Show launched last month to a collective yawn from most critics.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg said it was "fine for dedicated BlackBerry owners, but it isn't so great for people with other phones."

Air France A330 Cockpit Voice Recorder Recovered

The cockpit voice recorder from an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic two years ago has been found, French investigators have said. The discovery comes two days after the airliner's flight data recorder was also retrieved from the ocean. Both recorders are said to be in good physical condition.

The Airbus A330 was flying from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris when it went down on 1 June 2009, killing all 228 people on board.

"We can now hope to find out what truly happened within the next three weeks," French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani told French radio.

France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said the so-called black box would be shipped back to France, probably by the end of next week.

"The outside appears to be in relatively good shape," a spokeswoman said, adding it would be possible to see if the recorder was usable only once it was opened in France.

Last week, the French search team found the outer casing and then the memory unit of the flight data recorder. The crucial unit was located on Sunday and delivered to a search vessel. The wreckage was discovered last month after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

Air France flight 447 went down after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours following take-off from Rio de Janeiro. Those on board came from more than 30 countries, though most were French, Brazilian or German.

Experts say the data in the two flight recorders is the only hope of finding out why the plane crashed into the sea. The cockpit voice recorder - one of the so-called "black boxes" - contains vital information about the pilots' reactions The flight data recorder collects in-flight data from the plane's instruments, such as altitude, speed and rudder position.

Osama bin Laden is dead : Sources say

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead, and the U.S. has his body in its possession, U.S. officials said late Sunday. The U.S. had been waiting for the results of a DNA test to confirm his identity. A senior U.S. official said that Osama bin Laden was killed by the U.S. forces in a mansion outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad along with other family members.

Further details around his death were not immediately available. U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to address the nation shortly.   

The announcement comes nearly a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks which started a tireless hunt for the terrorist mastermind and Al Qaeda leader.US armed forces have been hunting the Saudi terror kingpin for years, an effort that was redoubled following the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon which killed 3,000 people. But Bin Laden always managed to evade US armed forces and a massive manhunt, and was most often thought to be hiding out in Pakistan and Afghanistan border areas.

Royal Wedding Cake: Eight Tiers of Frosted Fruitcake

PRINCE William and Kate Middleton cut the first slice of a magnificent eight-tiered wedding cake on Friday afternoon as they celebrated their marriage.

The confectionery masterpiece covered in cream and white icing and decorated with up to 900 delicate sugar-paste flowers was centre-stage at the Buckingham Palace reception.

The wedding cake, designed by Fiona Cairns, was accompanied by a chocolate biscuit cake that William had requested made from a royal family recipe. Garland on the cake matched architectural garland in the room, and each of the many varieties of flowers decorating the cake carried a specific meaning.

The wedding cake was made up of 17 individual fruitcakes, with 12 forming the base. The cake was then decorated with cream and white icing using the Joseph Lambeth technique.

The cake was served at a lavish lunchtime wedding reception at Buckingham Palace for 650 close friends and family.

Deadly Tornadoes kill more than 300 in US

On Wednesday, destructive tornadoes swept through a wide swath of the South, leaving at least 300 people dead and making this is the deadliest tornado outbreak since 1974. 

The death count rose steadily throughout the day: at least 195 in Alabama, 34 in Tennessee, 32 in Mississippi, 14 in Georgia, 12 in Arkansas, five in Virginia and one in Kentucky.  Authorities anticipate the death toll to rise even higher in the next few days.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it received 137 tornado reports around the regions into Wednesday night.

In Alabama, where as many as a million people were without power, Gov. Robert Bentley said 2,000 National Guard troops had been activated and were helping to search devastated areas for people still missing. He said the National Weather Service and forecasters did a good job of alerting people, but there is only so much that can be done to deal with powerful tornadoes a mile wide.

One of the hardest-hit areas was Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 and home to the University of Alabama. A massive tornado, caught on video by a news camera on a tower, barreled through late Wednesday afternoon, leveling the city.

The storm system spread destruction from Texas to New York, where dozens of roads were flooded or washed out. The governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia each issued emergency declarations for parts of their states.

President Barack Obama said he had spoken with Bentley and approved his request for emergency federal assistance.

"Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this devastation, and we commend the heroic efforts of those who have been working tirelessly to respond to this disaster," Obama said in a statement.

The storms came on the heels of another system that killed 10 people in Arkansas and one in Mississippi earlier this week.