"Fireworks" - Are You Kidding Me?

The Birds Keep Falling! But What Does It All Mean?
The Huffington Post reported on this earlier today. UPDATE: Hundreds and possibly thousands of dead birds have reportedly fallen from the sky in Italy. UPDATE: Wildlife officials say that even more previously unreported dead birds were found in Kentucky last week. Millions of dead fish surfaced in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay in the U.S., Tuesday, while similar unexplained mass fish Deaths occurred across the world in Brazil and New Zealand. On Wednesday, 50 birds were found dead on a street in Sw...

No 'aflockalypse'
Some commentators have dubbed it "the aflockalypse" - instances of mass bird Deaths that have perplexed observers over the past week. So why have birds quite literally been falling out the sky? It all started when residents of Beebe, in the US state of Arkansas, woke to find thousands of dead blackbirds strewn across roads on 1 January. Then, in Louisiana, about 500 birds - including starlings, cowbirds and redwing blackbirds - rained down from the skies. Only days later, news outlets...

Mass animal deaths scrutinized as Google maps numerous incidents
Five thousand blackbirds in Arkansas. One hundred pelicans near Jacksonville, North Carolina. Three hundred doves in Italy. Seventy bats in Tucson, Arizona. Thousands of fish in Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brazil and the United States. Google is now mapping the incidents of mass animal Deaths around the world. Google Maps' distinctive blue balloons indicate where the Deaths took place. Click on a balloon, and Google will provide you with a link to a news report on the ...

Dead bird reports spread to Italy
Thousands of dead birds have fallen from the sky, this time in Italy. The turtle doves found hanging dead in trees and laying on the ground have an unusual blue stain on their beaks, according to the Huffington Post. The deadly worldwide disturbance in the ecosystem began on New Year’s Even in Beebe, Arkansas, when some 5,000 blackbirds fell dead from the sky. Over the next few days, thousands of birds have been seen dead in different countries and continents, as if something set off an un...

Photo: Gone to the birds
A flock of black skimmers face into a cold blustery wind as they huddle together on Ben T. Davis Beach in Florida on a cold mid-December day. Photo: AP/Chris O'Meara Sadly, birds have been in the news a lot lately. Sudden bird die-offs in Arkansas, Louisiana and now Sweden have people unnerved and scrambling for explanations ranging from Alien Invasion, experiments by the U.S. Military, the BP Oil Spill, Fireworks or meteor showers. Add to the scenario massive fish die-offs in Maryland, Br...

What's With The Dead Animals?
Birds dropping from the sky. Dead fish washing up on the shore. Marine die offs. It's pretty creepy if you ask me. And I am not buying "the Fireworks scared the birds" story. 40,000 crabs washed ashore in the UK.. ya think they got scared from fireworks? Birds are continuing to drop from the sky in a mounting, now global, mystery. Up to 100 jackdaws fell dead in a small town in Sweden. Investigators have roped off the area in an effort to determine what killed the birds, who showed signs of se...

Birds Dying In Italy: Thousands Of Turtle Doves Fall Dead From Sky
On Wednesday, GeaPress reported hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of dead and dying birds in Italy. Countless turtle doves were found scattered in the streets, in flower beds and hanging tragically from trees "like Christmas balls" in the town of Faenza. Many of the birds that fell dead from the sky were discovered with a mysterious blue stain in their beaks. In the past week, similar incidents of mass animal Deaths have been reported across the world. Thousands of dead birds fell from the sk...

7 days quiz
It's the Magazine's 7 days, 7 questions quiz - an opportunity to prove to yourself and others that you are a news oracle. Failing that, you can always claim to have had better things to do during the past week than swot up on current affairs. HMV announced it will close 60 stores this week after bad Christmas sales. It's famous for its dog and gramophone logo - what the name of the pooch? The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to be republished in the US with some words changed, including "injun"...

Italian turtle doves found dead
Hundreds of dead turtle doves have been found in the parks and streets of the northern Italian town of Faenza. Italian scientists are investigating what might have caused the Deaths of the 400 birds, whose bodies appeared in the days after New Year. Their mysterious appearance follows separate cases of mass bird Deaths in Sweden and the US state of Arkansas. Experts said a variety of tests were being carried out but emphasised there was no cause for alarm. "We are carrying out the standard ...

Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens after 8,000 doves fall dead in Italy; Strange blue stain on beaks...
Thousands of dead turtle doves rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town in the latest in a growing spate of mass animal Deaths across the globe. Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like 'little Christmas balls' with strange blue stains on their beaks. Initial tests on up to 8,000 of the doves indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia. A witness told www.examiner.com: 'We have no idea why this happened all of a sudden. Hypoxia, ...

Dozens of jackdaws found dead in Sweden
STOCKHOLM -- Officials say about 50 birds have been found dead on a street in Sweden. Veterinarian Robert ter Horst says the cause of jackdaws' Deaths was unclear but that Fireworks were set off near the scene Tuesday night. The birds were found dead on Wednesday. Ter Horst says cold weather, difficulties finding food and possible shock from the Fireworks could be responsible, leading to the stressed birds either dying from the stress or being run over by vehicles. Five of the dead jackdaws fo...

More than 1,000 turtle doves fall from the sky in Italy in latest mass bird death case
After cavalcades of dead birds and fish from Arkansas and Texas to Sweden and New Zealand, tests are being carried out on the bodies of turtle doves in Italy after hundreds rained down near Ravenna....

Latest mass bird deaths: Thousands of turtle doves drop from the sky over Italy
It is raining this morning in the northern Italian town of Faenza, near Ravenna. In and of itself this would hardly be newsworthy. The fact, however, that it is turtle doves—not raindrops—falling from the sky is a cause for concern, especially in light of this report’s representing the latest in a series of bizarre animal Deaths worldwide. More than a thousand of the birds crashed down on the roofs of houses and cars. According to the UK newspaper the Mirror, today alone 300 co...

COL FB: LSU 41, Texas A&M; 24
ARLINGTON, Texas, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Jordan Jefferson threw for three touchdowns and ran for another Friday in rallying LSU from an early Deficit to a 41-24 win over Texas A&M; in the Cotton Bowl. For the first time in the 75-year history of the event, the Cotton Bowl game was not played in Cotton Bowl Stadium. The contest was moved to the new 90,000-seat Cowboys Stadium in hopes of eventually making it one of the attractions in the BCS series. Texas A&M; took a 10-0 lead before Jefferson warmed up a...

Stockholm bomber was trained in Iraq, says official
Interesting article in that the Iraqi's claim there was a second Suicide bomber(an Egyptian national) who recieved similar training with Taymour Abdulwahab(the failed Swedish bomber). Reuters(Reuters) - Iraq informed the United States about a plot to carry out bombings in Sweden two months before an attack in Stockholm by a man trained in Iraq, an Iraqi security official told al Arabiya television on Friday. Major General Dhai Kanani, director of Iraq's anti-terrorism unit, said the man who bl...

400 Turtledoves Die in Italy
(NewsCore) - The global spate of unexplained mass animal deaths continued Friday as some 700 turtledoves mysteriously fell from the sky in the northwestern Italian city of Faenza. The birds, which are often seen throughout the area, left behind a scene evocative of a Hitchcock movie as their carcasses piled up over the last five days, according to Corriere della Sera. The cause of death had yet to be determined, but a researcher at a local zoological institute, Dr. Frasnelli, said people should ...

Arkansas bird deaths blamed on fireworks
"It's looking more and more like that," said Keith Stephens, spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. It appears unusually loud noises frightened the birds out of their nighttime roost, and they may have flown into trees, houses and other objects, the commission said in a statement. Blackbirds have poor night vision and typically do not fly at night. Meanwhile, wildlife officials reported other mass blackbird Deaths in Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky. While the Deaths have sparked...

Suicide bombing in Afghan bathhouse kills 17
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan — A Suicide Bomber blew himself up Friday at a public bathhouse in southern Afghanistan that was filled with men washing themselves before the main prayers of the Muslim week. At least 17 people were killed and 23 others injured, provincial officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Spin Buldak, in Kandahar Province. The area, a main crossing point into Pakistan, is a longtime nexus for Smuggling drugs and weapons. A Taliban sp...

Is the government poisoning us with fluoride, after all?
My secret, definitive (and unpublished) profile of Gene Sperling! "Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?" -- Gen. Jack Ripper, "Dr. Strangelove" Wait...does Friday's news that some Americans' water may be over-fluoridated mean that fellow from "Dr. Strangelove" was right? Has the government really been polluting our precious bodily fluids for a full half century? Get me a glass of rain water and pure-grain alcoho...

Vols assistant Tony Jones fills in for Bruce Pearl
Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl yells to his team during the first half of an NCAA college Basketball game against Memphis Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011 in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennessee associate head coach Tony Jones says filling in for head coach Bruce Pearl will be just like making another player substitution. "I'll just fill in for a player that's injured for 2½ hours and try to do the same things that we would (normally) do," Jones said. "I know some of the things he would do right now before he'd...

Thousands of dead doves rain down in Italy
Tests are being carried out on the bodies of turtle doves after hundreds rained down from the skies on an Italian town in the latest of a global phenomenon. For the past five days wildlife experts and officers from the forestry commission have picked up more than 1,000 turtle doves as well as other birds including pigeons near the town of Faenza in northern Italy. Yesterday alone 300 dead birds were r ADVERTISEMENT ecovered, all having a blue tinge to their beaks, which scientists say indicate...

Dead Crabs Wash Ashore By Thousands On England Beaches
As if thousands of dead birds falling from the sky and millions of fish turning up dead across the world in the last week weren't enough, the Thanet Coast in the UK is now littered with tens of thousands of dead crabs that have washed ashore. The events are likely unrelated, however, and the BBC notes that this is the third year in a row thousands of dead devil crabs, also known as velvet swimming crabs, have turned up on the coastline near Kent, England. It is estimated that 40,000 of the dea...

Dead birds, dead fish now being reported worldwide
It began on New Year’s Eve in Beebe, Arkansas with the discovery of 5,000 blackbirds that had fallen from the sky dead. The next day, 100,000 fish were found dead in the nearby Arkansas River.  2 days later, more than 500 blackbirds turned up dead in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. Dozens more birds have been reported dead in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. Now reports are coming in from all over the world of millions more dead fish and dead birds. The sudden, worldwide death of millions of...

Attacks on Science: Predictions for the New Year
2011 will be the year that the phrase “supplemental materials” will emerge at the forefront of the Creationism battles. Over the past several years, recommendations that supplemental materials be introduced in Public School science classrooms have been part of anti-evolution bills in states across the country as a way to sneak creationist literature into the Curriculum. Because they are not subject to the same formal adoption process as official textbooks, supplemental materials used...

Countdown: Julian Assanges Memoir Will Be Out This April
April 11: That’s the day that Wikileaks front man Julian Assange ’s memoir will be unleashed onto the public. Assange previously said he’s writing the book not because he wants to, but because he needs the money to pay for his mounting legal costs and to keep Wikileaks up and running. And, with $1.5 million coming his way, he may be able to do just that. In addition to the U.S. and the U.K, Assange’s book will likely also be published in Italy, Germany, France, Australia...