|
|
|
Weekly Update: World’s first cloned deer
CHICAGO: US researchers said on Monday that they have carried out the first successful cloning of a white-tailed deer in a “breakthrough” that could be instrumental in conserving endangered deer species.
The cloned animal — a fawn, named “Dewey,” — was born to a surrogate mother several months ago.
“Dewey is developing normally for a fawn his age and appears healthy,” said Mark Westhusin, associate professor with the university’s college of veterinary medicine and lead investigator on the project in a statement.
Dewey is thought to be the first such deer clone and could ultimately be useful in conserving endangered deer species including the Key West deer of Florida, researchers said.
White-tailed deer are the most abundant, wide-spread big game animal in North America, but cloning could be a used in certain circumstances to preserve the genetics of superior animals who have died of natural causes or have been hunted, the researchers suggested.—AFP
Motorbike driver squeezed by python
BANGKOK: A Thai man remained unconscious in hospital on Wednesday after being nearly asphyxiated by a four-metre python, police said.
Samrauy, 43, had volunteered to release the snake in the province’s remote national park after alarmed residents caught it slithering through Prachinburi town. He stuffed the snake into a sack and drove off, but when he stopped at an intersection the python wriggled out of the bag and attacked him.
More than a dozen people beat the snake with sticks for over 20 minutes before the 44-pound reptile released its death grip and was eventually subdued, local police Lieutenant Chumphol Buachum said.
The python, of an unidentified species but believed to be native to Thailand, was later released into the jungle by relief workers. —AFP
China to rid itself of garbage ahead of 2008 Olympics
BEIJING: China’s capital wants to clean up its act before the 2008 Summer Olympics, finding better ways to dispose of its millions of tonnes of garbage, officials said on Wednesday.
“We want to host the most wonderful Games in history,” Chen Wenzhan, director of the Beijing municipal administrative committee, told a briefing.
“To hold the Olympics, we not only need good stadiums but also a great environment,” he said.
Environmental issues have been put on the front-burner. The city is undertaking 20 major environmental projects, including replacing coal with natural gas, curbing car exhaust emissions, planting trees and treating sewage. — AFP
Mobile phone service to begin in Iraq
BAGHDAD: Licences for mobile phone services in Iraq were signed on Monday, and service in the central area, including Baghdad, will soon be operating, the telecommunications minister said.
Three Middle Eastern companies won bids for licences in October in Iraq and were expected to operate in two months. But technical reasons delayed the start of operations, said Minister Haider Jawad al-Aubadi.
In central Iraq, a consortium headed by an Egyptian telecommunication company, Orascom, started a weeklong trial period on Monday.
The service, IRAQNA or “our Iraq”, will go public by mid-January with 120,000 subscribers expected in the first year.
Twelve landline telephone exchanges in the Baghdad area were knocked out during the US-led invasion in March. Some 270,000 landlines are expected to operate in Baghdad next month, al-Aubadi said, but restoration efforts have been complicated by sabotage.
The companies, all operating with the GSM phone standard used in Europe and the Middle East, have each put up a refundable $30 million bond for the licences. Collectively, they will also pay $9 million to fund a wireless regulatory agency.
The calls will cost between 8 and 10 cents per minute, the minister said. — APP
Rivers lose navigability in Bangladesh
DHAKA: At least 25 rivers are on the verge of losing their navigability in Pabna region of Bangladesh.
No sooner had the dry season begun, at least 25 rivers of Paban region started to lose their navigability causing a lot of hazard for easy movement of vessels. Numerous shoals have emerged on the beds of the Padma and the Jamuna, though the lean season has yet not set in.
At least 25 tributaries of the Padama and the Jamuna, particularly Gorai, Attrai, Chiknai, Baral, Chittra, Hurasagar, have already become unfit for movement of water vessels. — APP
Dog kills dog
LONDON: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is mourning the death of one of her beloved corgi dogs after it was savaged by her daughter’s bull terrier, newspapers reported on Wednesday.
Princess Anne’s bull terrier Dottie, attacked the corgi at a royal family gathering at the Sandringham estate in eastern England on Monday, the top-selling Sun tabloid said. The Daily Mail said the corgi, Pharos, was later put down, having suffered three fractures to one of its hind legs.
Pharos was one of the queen’s oldest and most devoted pets.— Reuters
|
|
|
|
