Reports

Scientists have rediscovered three "lost" amphibian species that had not been seen for decades, Conservation International (CI) and the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG) have announced. The three amphibians that have been rediscovered so far include a Mexican salamander not seen since it was discovered in 1941, a frog from the Ivory Coast not seen since 1967, and another frog from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) not seen since 1979. The cave splayfoot salamander ( Chiropterotriton...

It has taken the UN three months to react to street demonstrations in Kashmir which have left over 100 people dead. UN secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called for an immediate end to violence in Kashmir after recent deadly clashes there. “The Secretary-General regrets the latest loss of life,” his spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters. “He calls for an immediate end to violence and urges calm and restraint by all concerned.” The UN reaction came a day after an Indian all-party...

The upsurge in rhino poaching in southern Africa is leading to a variety of responses to the crisis worldwide. This year around 200 animals have been poached in South Africa for horns, with five killed in a nature reserve alone in the last weekend. According to TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, the number of horns moving out of Africa is escalating, with poached horns able to move from the site of the kill to the global market in as little as 48 hours. Four rhino carcasses with...

The amount of deals in the international arms market has dropped drastically in the aftermath of the financial crisis. A new report has concluded that the value of worldwide arms deals in 2009 was $57.5 billion, a drop of 8.5 percent from 2008. The major arms suppliers worldwide are the US, Russia and Germany, the three countries alone accounting for close to 60 percent of all deliveries. The figures come from a recent report of the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a division of the Library...

Two radio stations in Mogadishu were taken off air on Sunday and their equipment confiscated by rebels. HornAfrik Radio and Global Broadcasting Corporation were separately raided by fighters from the Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam respectively. HornAfrik staff said armed militia from the Al-Shabaab broke into the premises of the radio station in Bakaro market of Mogadishu on Saturday evening, chased away journalists working in the station before destroyin g cassettes and CDs in the studios and its...

A young Muslim girl in the Indian state of Kerala has been receiving death threats for not wearing the burqa, and instead often opting for jeans. She is an aeronautical engineer by qualification striving to get into the country's civil services. For Rayana R Khasi, a resident of Kasargode, 600 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram, her problems began after she returned from Chennai city last year after completing her engineering studies and coaching classes for the civil services exam...

Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot at a tourist bus on Sunday near the historic Jama Masjid in old Delhi area, injuring two Taiwanese nationals. The gunmen randomly opened fire near the mosque, hitting tourists who were in a bus parked nearby. Eyewitnesses told the CNN-IBN news channel that the attackers wore helmets and raincoats and escaped on their motorcycle after firing seven rounds. A red alert has been sounded for the two suspects who are still absconding. The police have recovered .38 bore...

The Sahara India Pariwar, an Indian conglomerate with deep pockets in the real estate and media sectors, is in talks about buying the debt of struggling film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $1.5 billion to $2 billion, according to news reports. Reuters reported that the talks are still in a preliminary stage. One source told the news agency that the Sahara group is contemplating a nearly $2 billion, all-cash deal for MGM's debt. Another source put the deal at roughly $1.5 billion. It was unclear...

A team of archaeologists has found the burial chamber of a priest named Karakhamun at the Theban Necropolis in Egypt. The tomb dates back to Dynasty 25 (c. 755BC) and was uncovered during conservation and restoration work on the west bank of Luxor. The restoration work of this tomb is part of a much larger project known as the South Asasif Conservation Project (ACP). The el-Asasif area is an archaeologically important site which contains nobles’ tombs from the New Kingdom, as well as the 25-26th...

Taxi drivers in Mumbai may now have an additional task on their hands apart from ferrying passengers ― keeping the police informed about any suspicious activity. Taxi drivers, however, feel they will now be harassed more by the police. The Mumbai police is planning this initiative as part of its Alert Mumbaikar campaign to keep a tab on the movement of suspicious people in the city. The police in Mumbai want to emulate the practice followed by their counterparts in the Gulf countries where taxi...