August 23, 2012

Streetwise monkey on the loose in Tampa

By Jon Mooallem
The New York Times
August 23, 2012

The monkey appeared behind a Bennigan's. The Bennigan's was one in a row of free-standing, fast-casual joints in Clearwater, Fla., just outside Tampa, that also includes a Panda Express and a Chipotle. At one end, a Perkins Family Restaurant flies a preposterously large Stars and Stripes in its front yard, as if it were a federal building or an aircraft carrier.

Someone spotted the monkey poking through a Dumpster around lunchtime. When a freelance animal trapper named Vernon Yates arrived, all he could make out was an oblong ball of light brown fur, asleep in the crown of an oak. It was a male rhesus macaque - a pink-faced, two-foot-tall species native to Asia. It weighed about 25 pounds.

No pet macaques were reported missing around Tampa Bay - there wasn't even anyone licensed to own one in the immediate area. Yates, who is called by the state wildlife agency to trap two or three monkeys a year, was struck by how "streetwise" this particular one seemed. Escaped pet monkeys tend to cower and stumble once they're out in the unfamiliar urban environment, racing into traffic or frying themselves in power lines. But as Yates loaded a tranquilizer dart into his rifle, this animal jolted awake, swung out of the canopy and hit the ground running. It made for the neighboring office park, where it catapulted across a roof and reappeared, sitting smugly in another tree, only to vanish again. Yates was left dumbstruck, balancing at the top of a ladder. (By then, a firetruck had been called in to assist him.) "There's no way to describe how intelligent this thing is," he told me recently.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (known as the F.W.C.) came to believe that the macaque wasn't a pet but had wandered out of a small population of free-roaming, wild macaques that live in a forest along the Silver River, 100 miles away. Soon, the F.W.C. was warning that wild macaques can carry the herpes B virus, which, though not easily transmitted to humans, can be fatal. A spokesman also told the press, "They're infamous for throwing feces at things they don't like."

More: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/magazine/tampa-monkey.xml

August 23, 2012

Anarchists may attack Republican and Democratic conventions

By Carol Cratty
CNN
August 22, 2012

Washington (CNN) - Law enforcement officials are concerned about possible violence by anarchist extremists at the upcoming Republican and Democratic national conventions, according to an intelligence bulletin prepared by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

The bulletin, which was obtained by CNN, says that anarchists could try to use improvised explosive devices.

It also says that, as of March, the FBI had intelligence indicating individuals from New York "planned to travel to Tampa and attempt to close" all of the Tampa Bay-area bridges during the Republican National Convention next week.

According to the document, the FBI's information as of March showed that anarchist extremists proposed "engaging in potentially destructive criminal activities against critical infrastructure outside the security perimeter throughout the Tampa Bay region because they expected access to the main RNC venue to be tightly controlled."

More: http://us.cnn.com/2012/08/22/politics/conventions-anarchists/index.html?

August 23, 2012

Western countries discuss further support for Syrian rebels

Source: Xinhua

August 23, 2012

DAMASCUS, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of France, Britain and the United States have held phone conversations to discuss how to provide further support for Syria's opposition, which is fighting an increasingly fierce war with government forces.

A statement by the White House on Wednesday said a phone call between President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron covered a "wide array of global issues," including the conflict in Syria and the need for increased participation from other countries to support the Syrian opposition.

The two leaders exchanged views on "ways the international community can assist those displaced by the conflict, apply pressure on the Assad regime, and support the opposition so that the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people can be realized," the statement said.

Meanwhile, a statement from Cameron's office said the two leaders agreed that the use or threat of use of chemical weapons by Syria was "completely unacceptable" and would force them to "revisit their approach" to the conflict.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/23/c_131802927.htm

August 23, 2012

California declares emergency as wildfire advances on town

Source: Reuters

By Mary Slosson
August 22, 2012

RED BLUFF, Calif., Aug 22 (Reuters) -California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in three Northern California counties on Wednesday after a wildfire that has already destroyed 50 buildings advanced with 75-foot flames on a tiny community at the doorstep of a national park.

Firefighters scrambled to head off the so-called Ponderosa Fire, which had already scorched 24,000 acres (9,700 hectares), before it reached the outskirts of Mineral, a community of less than 200 people just south of Lassen National Volcanic Park.

Authorities issued an evacuation warning for Mineral as flames roared 75 feet (23 metres) high on the side of Highway 36, the main route into town, and burned through a rocky canyon where firefighters struggled to make a stand.

Crews also bulldozed a trench to serve as a last line of defense between the fire and the town.

Read more: http://touch.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-71923571/

August 23, 2012

No woman can call herself free

“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.” – Margaret Sanger

August 22, 2012

Ailing Egypt seeks $4.8 billion IMF loan

Source: AP

By Maggie Michael
August 22, 2012

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt formally asked the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan on Wednesday, seeking a desperately needed rescue package for its faltering economy but raising the possibility of painful restructuring in a country still reeling since its revolution more than 18 months ago.

The loan deal, which Egypt says it will reach by the end of the year, presents a major test to the Muslim Brotherhood-rooted president, Mohammed Morsi, the country's first ever freely elected leader, brought to power after the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

The IMF has avoided making specific conditions for a loan but it seeks a cohesive government plan for restarting economic growth and reducing a deficit that has grown to $23.6 billion, some 8.7 percent of gross domestic product.

A key part of that will likely be reducing subsidies that suck up a third of the government budget every year. Touching those subsidies, however, could bring social upheaval, since they keep commodities like fuel and bread cheap for a population of around 82 million, some 40 percent of whom live near or below the poverty line.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-08-22/ailing-egypt-seeks-4-dot-8-billion-imf-loan

August 22, 2012

Syria resumes shelling on Damascus districts

Source: Al Jazeera

August 22, 2012

The Syrian army has deployed tanks on a ring road surrounding Damascus and shelled southern neighbourhoods where rebels operate, the heaviest bombardment in the capital since the army reasserted control last month, residents and activists said.

At least 40 people were killed in the shelling, which was accompanied by attacks from helicopters, and in ensuing ground raids on the Kfar Souseh, Daraya, Qadam and Nahr Aisha neighbourhoods, they said.

"The whole of Damascus is shaking with the sound of shelling," a woman in Kfar Souseh said.

She said the army's artillery was also firing on the capital from the Qasioun and Saraya mountains overlooking Damascus. The assaults in the capital coincide with the departure of the United Nations observer mission, whose members are leaving after failing to secure a ceasefire.

Read more: http://aje.me/NgpNBb

August 22, 2012

Forcible rape: It's not just Akin

Last March, in a discussion in the Kansas House about whether women purchase separate abortion-only policies, Republican state Rep. Pete DeGraaf suggested women should plan ahead for rape the way he keeps a spare tire. A few weeks later, Indiana state Rep. Eric Turner, a Republican, said some women might fake being raped in order to get free abortions.

Former presidential hopeful Rick Santorum suggested doctors who perform an abortion on a woman who becomes pregnant from an attack should be thrown in jail and this year suggested rape victims who become pregnant from an attack should be forced to keep the baby and "make the best out of a bad situation."

And we're to believe Akin is just a one-off. Please. More than 200 Republican members of Congress joined him in co-sponsoring House Resolution 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, when it contained language restricting the exception for federally funded abortions to "an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest." Forcible rape is not too far from legitimate rape.

So vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan can try to backpedal away from Akin as fast as he can, but his name is still on the record in support of that bill, with that language. He can say he's in line with Mitt Romney and would not ban abortions in the case of rape, but it's his name attached to House Resolution 212: Sanctity of Human Life Act, which would have done just that.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/21/opinion/granderson-gop-rape-abortion/index.html

August 21, 2012

McConnell increases pressure on Akin, now directly calls to end Senate candidacy

Source: The Hill

By Daniel Strauss
August 21, 2012

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) directly called for Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) to end his Senate candidacy in response to Akin's announcement that he planned to stay in the race.

"Rep. Akin made a deeply offensive error at a time when his candidacy carries great consequence for the future of our country," McConnell said in a statement Tuesday shortly after Akin said he would be staying in the race. "In his heart of hearts, I’m certain that he is sincerely sorry for what he said, but in this instance, when the future of our country is at stake, sorry is not sufficient. To continue serving his country in the honorable way he has served throughout his career, it is time for Congressman Akin to step aside."

After Akin said on Sunday that the female body has ways of ending pregnancies that are the result of "legitimate" rape, McConnell, alongside other top Republicans, strongly suggested that Akin drop out of the race to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

Akin announced Tuesday, just a few hours before he had to make a final decision, that he planned to stay in. A day earlier, McConnell issued a statement suggesting only that Akin should consider whether to continue.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/244595-mcconnell-increases-pressure-on-akin-now-directly-calls-to-end-senate-candidacy

August 21, 2012

New Todd Akin ad: Forgiveness