Extinction Of 'Arabian unicorn' Saved

The return of wild Oryx to the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula is being hailed as a conservation achievement story.

The latest International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species states that the wild population of the two-horned antelope species now stands at around 1,000, nearly 40 years after the last wild animal was hunted and killed.

"To have brought the Arabian Oryx back from the edge of extinction is a major feat, one which we hope will be recurring many times over for other threatened species," said Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Director General of the Environment Agency -- Abu Dhabi.

The species is now listed as "vulnerable" and is the first time an animal listed as "extinct in the wild" has enhanced its status by three categories.

The turn-around has been the result of conservation efforts that began in 1982 in Oman. Captive bred oryx were effectively released back into the desert habitats of the country and then in regions of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel and Jordan.

Known locally as Al Maha, the Arabian Oryx is thought to be exclusively adapted to living in harsh, dry environments with its ability to smell water from miles away.

It is thought that it was also the source of the unicorn legend, as when viewed in profile the two horns appear as one.

Eight new species of amphibians are classified as decisively endangered, just one place from "extinct in the wild." The IUCN says that amphibians are one of the most threatened species groups with an estimated 41% at risk of extinction.

The main threats come from habitat loss, pollution, diseases and invasive species.

The IUCN estimates that human impact has meant extinctions are happening at anything between 100 and 1,000 times the natural rate.

China Unveils High-Speed Beijing-Shanghai Rail

It took Chinese engineers only 39 months to build the country's grandest yet infrastructure project — a $33 billion, 1,318 km high-speed railway line that links the capital with its financial centre.

Starting Thursday morning, trains running at 300 kmph will barrel out of Beijing's ultramodern and sprawling South Railway Station, making the journey to Shanghai — cities as far apart as New Delhi and Mumbai — in only 4 hours and 45 minutes, less than half the duration of the current 10-hour journey.

On Monday, Chinese railway officials unveiled a test-run of the most ambitious segment of their already impressive and fast-expanding high-speed rail network, which stretches across more than 8,000 km and will double by 2020.

The landmark project will open to the public on Thursday, a day before the Communist Party of China marks its 90th anniversary.

“This is the pride of China and the Chinese people,” said He Huawu, chief engineer of the Ministry of Railways. “It took just 39 months to build such a high-standard and world-renowned high-speed rail line, which is a gift for the 90th anniversary of the Party.”

Mr. He said the trains were completely safe, and would travel well below maximum speeds, at around 250-300 kmph. Chinese airlines are already cutting air-fares between Beijing and Shanghai, anticipating heavy patronage for the rail line.

The cheapest ticket costs 410 Yuan (Rs. 2870), around half as much as the fare for the two-hour flight, and minus the hassles of air travel.

The financial viability of the line — and the high-speed rail network in general — has also been a source of much debate. China plans to spend 2.8 trillion yuan ($ 430.7 billion) on its railway network in the next five years.

Wang Mengshu, a leading expert on China's high-speed rail network at Beijing Jiaotong University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told in an interview that in the long-term, the project would bring benefits to economic development, and the government did not expect the high-speed lines to break even. “All passenger transportation loses money, and this is a form of social welfare.”

“There is a very high demand from all destinations to Beijing, and between provincial capitals,” he said.

“In India, where there is greater pressure on roads and space than in China, a similar system, where trains are built on elevated bridges, makes perfect sense.”

Yoda Crowned World's Ugliest Dog 2011

A 1.8-pound scruffy mutt named Yoda who has been mistaken for a rat won the World's Ugliest Dog title for 2011 t at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma.

Yoda won a trophy 15 times her size and $1,000. The beady-eyed pooch also gets a picture shoot and an overnight stay in the Loft Suite at the Sheraton Sonoma County, according to fair officials.

Her owner, Terry Devine Schumacher, said her daughter found Yoga in a grassland 14 years ago when the pup was 2.

"I told her to put it down because I thought it was a rat," Schumacher said.

Fair officials permitted the spectators to vote this year via text. Other favorites in the 23rd annual contest were Icky, Cuda, Handsome Hector and Ratdog.

$2 Million Worth Of Antique Dolls Collected By Doll Addict

Kathy Libraty, an antique doll collector from Brooklyn, New York, has spent the last 25 years searching for antique dolls, and now has an inspiring collection of over 1,000 objects that’s worth around $2 million.

Believe it or not, Kathy’s attraction with dolls didn’t start when she was a little girl. In fact she remembers she was more of a tomboy and had no real interest in dolls or any girly stuff. Born in France, she and her parents immigrated to the US when she was only 4. After graduating from Brooklyn College with a BA in Art, her zeal for photography took her to Europe and the Middle East, where she took a real concern in history and old art. When she and her husband, Frank, bought an old Victorian house, Kathy decided to pursue her love for antiques and started attending country auctions. She was intrigued that people sometimes remunerated large amounts of money for wigless doll heads, broken limbs and crooked-eye dolls, but not enough to start spending money on them, herself.

It wasn’t until one day, 25 years ago, that Kathy Libraty actually became addicted to collecting antique dolls. She and Frank were driving around the neighborhood when they saw a man emptying boxes of antiques into a dumpster. She saw a doll’s leg sticking out and told Frank to stop the car. They went up to the man and asked him if he was going to chuck all those things away, and he just replied “Yeah, it’s all grimy old junk”, so they offered to take it off his hands. When they got home and looked through the “junk” they found a rare 24″ George Borgfeldt doll, numerous composition mama dolls, and a broken bisque Cuno and Otto Dressel Shoulder head doll. She often wondered what other treasures that man had thrown away in the dumpster that day, but the wonders she managed to get her hands on stimulated her to go out into the world and discover her own priceless treasures.

New Lytro Light-Field Camera Allows You Focus After You Shoot

An American company says it has developed a camera that can focus pictures - after they have been taken.

Californian firm Lytro says its camera uses a light field sensor to capture more visual information from a scene than a traditional camera.

By capturing all existing light data emitted from a scene, including the direction of light rays, photos can be manipulated with computer software to change the focus from foreground to background, or to change the image from 2D to 3D.

Bringing the image into focus later also avoids "shutter lag" - the small delay between pushing a shutter button and a picture being taken - caused by mechanical focusing.

Capturing more light information should also permit for clearer photos in dark rooms and other low-light situations, they said.

"To make an analogy with a music-recording studio, taking a conventional photograph is like recording all the musicians playing together, rather than recording every instrument on a separate audio track," company founder Ren Ng wrote in his PhD dissertation on the technology.

Prototypes of the camera are being tested but it is not yet accessible to consumers.

Atomic Reactor Turns Into Popular Amusement Park

Wunderland Kalkar is an exclusive amusement park built on the site of a never-used power plant, complete with a fast breeder reactor, in Kalkar, Germany.

Construction of the Kalkar nuclear plant began in 1972, but was constantly delayed due to technical difficulties and protests from those anxious about the security of nuclear power. When it was completed, over 10 year later, authorities decided to pull the plug on the project, and the $4 billion complex was dismantled in less than a decade. The fast breeder reactor remained in place, and in 1995 Dutch entrepreneur Hennie van der Most bought what was left of the Kalkar plant for a mere €2.5 million and managed to turn it into a lucrative amusement park visited by over 600,000 people, every year.

Wunderland Kalkar has around 40 rides, for children and adults alike, and a 400-bed hotel. Among the most motivating features of the park are the swing ride set up inside the cooling facility, and the climbing wall on its outer walls. Also, chairoplanes, quad bikes, go-karts and a whole bunch of other fun gadgets make trips to Wunderland Kalkar a blast for the entire family.

Iconic Dress Of Marilyn Monroe Sold For $5.6 Million

Marilyn Monroe's white "subway" dress sold for more than $5.6 million in a Beverly Hills, California sale in which bidders paid another $2.7 million for three other Monroe movie outfits.

It was the first in a series of auctions to sell the huge Hollywood history collection that singer, dancer and actress Debbie Reynolds accumulated over the past 50 years.

Collector Keya Morgan said bids were "totally crazy, particularly in this recession."

Bidding for the iconic ivory pleated dress Monroe wore in "The Seven Year Itch" was "completely magical," Morgan said.

With the auction company getting a $1 million commission, the buyer will pay $5.6 million. It had been predictable to sell for $2 million, the auction house, Profiles in History, said.

Other items sold at the auction included a blue cotton dress and a pair of ruby slippers made for Judy Garland in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. Although both items were only test costumes never worn in camera, they fetched a combined value of nearly $1.75 million.

A bowler hat worn by Charlie Chaplin in numerous films sold for $135,300.

Racing silks and riding pants worn by a young Elizabeth Taylor in "National Velvet fetched $73,800.

Man Married To A Mannequin Out Of His True Love

Ned Nefner, 38, is gladly married to his 6-foot-tall mannequin wife, Teagan. The two met back in the ‘80s when Ned spent some time in a Children’s Home. Teagan was just a head when they began their relationship. Over time, he built her a body and ultimately the two were married in 1986.

There are a couple of Facebook pages for Nefer, including the "Syracuse Mannequin Man" and "The guy pushing the manequin." Everyone seems to want to help him, giving him food and noting where they've seen him. And many people talk about Ned's love of Teagan.

A social welfare auditor told the paper, "This is definitely one of the very oddest things I've ever come across, but he seems very happy. I wouldn't sort him as dangerous at all. He seemed quite happy in his own little world."

Artist Larry Moss Recreates Famous Icons Using Balloons

If Japan is famous for Origami paper folding art show originality and creativity, but now Americans are pompous to variations in this art with balloons, to create files named Airigami very soul, according to news. One of the authors of the balloon was "twisted" Larry Moss is from Rochester (New York, USA).

The Rochester-based artist creates Airigami, which translates as the fine art of folding air, and his delicate masterpieces are by far the most detailed balloon sculptures I have ever seen. Moss uses latex balloons to create all kinds of installations, from giant sculptures to wearable fashion objects, and even intricate replicas of some of the world’s most famous icons and Spinosaurus (Dinosaur Entirely of Balloons.

Among his most impressive works are recreations of Boticelli’s Birth of Venus and Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Singer Lily Allen Weds Sam Cooper In England

Radiant Lily Allen beamed with joy as she tied the knot then revealed she’s expecting a baby.

Ecstatic Smile singer Lily is pregnant – six months after she suffered a miscarriage. The cheering news was announced by her husband Sam Cooper to guests at their wedding breakfast.

“It was so very, very touching – and ­completely the icing on the cake for them,” one guest revealed. “The day was always going to be wonderful, but when Sam said Lily was­ pregnant there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. There were tears of joy for Lily and Sam.”

The singer was told the pregnancy was healthy at her 12-week-scan. Lily lost her much longed-for baby boy six months into a pregnancy in November last year.

Unfortunately, it was her second ­miscarriage after she lost a baby at four months in 2008 when she was dating The Chemical ­Brothers’ Ed Simons.

Now a traumatic chapter of her life appears to have finished – to the delight of friends and family. As relatives and pals toasted the welcome news in bright sunshine, she beamed with delight. Celeb pals ­congratulated the couple on Twitter.

Singer Boy George tweeted: “Ah, congrats to Lily Allen & Sam! Long may you love & prosper!”

Lily proudly showed signs of a bump at St James the Great church in the Cotswold village of Cranham, near Stroud, Gloucs. The 26-year-old wore a eye-catching vintage-inspired ivory lace dress by Delphine Manivet.

The designer said: “You can see of course the little stomach – it looked very cute with the dress.”

The World's Most Pierced Woman Gets Married In Scotland

Elaine Davidson is a Brazilian-born nurse, living in Edinborough, Scotland, who has made a name for herself by decorating her body with over 6,000 piercings.

Looking at her, you’d possibly think most normal men would run for the hills the minute they laid eyes on Elaine Davidson, the world’s most pierced woman, but she actually got a civilized looking civil servant named Douglas Watson, who doesn’t have any visible piercings, to wed her. The 42-year-old former nurse was dressed in a classic white wedding dress that covered all of her body, excluding the face which was painted green and covered with 192 piercings. In case you’re wondering, no, she didn’t scare off the minister.

Most of Elaine Davidson’s piercings are in her genitalia, over 500, located both on the outside and on the inside. The total weight of her “jewelry” adds up to three kilograms. Doctors say this type of extreme modding involves serious risks, such as infection and transmission of diseases like hepatitis or AIDS. Despite her bizarre appearence, Elaine wants the public to know she doesn’t do drugs, drink alcohol or smoke cigarretes. Her only vice is Coca-Cola.

Brazilian-born Davidson first broke the record for most piercings in 2000, when Guinness examined her body and found 462 piercings, counting 192 on her face. She’s come a long way since then and the last count exposed she now sports 6,925 piercings, weighing around three kilograms. Believe it or not, she never takes off any of her piercings.

Wildwood Ferris Wheel Accident Kills 11-Year-Old Girl

An 11-year-old girl on a school field trip died after falling about 100 feet from a moving Ferris wheel at New Jersey’s Wildwood Boardwalk.

The girl fell on a day when the park was greatly attended by schoolchildren. She fell from the upper half of the ride while it was in motion, Wildwood Police Captain Robert Regalbuto told The Press of Atlantic City.

Will Morey, president of the Morey Organization, who has owned amusement parks at the Jersey shore since 1969, said it appears Jones was alone in a passenger gondola, which is secured with a double latch.

Morey’s said the reason was being investigated. Both Morey’s and police said the problem did not appear to be mechanical.

The Ferris wheel was last inspected by the state Department of Community Affairs' division of codes and standards on March 17 and passed assessment, said DCA spokeswoman Hollie Gilroy.

Capt. Lynn Frame of the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office said the incident is under investigation, but it appears to be an misfortune. New Jersey carnival amusement inspectors have arrived and are investigating the incident, along with Wildwood police.

Couple Say They Are Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene

An Australian couple who claim they are reincarnations of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene have newly set up camp in Queensland’s Bible Belt, joined by 30 – 40 followers.

Australian cult watchers are worried about a new organization known as Divine Truth, led by Alan John Miller and Mary Suzanne Luck, who claim they are Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. The two rely on donations made by their followers in order to maintain themselves, and authorities fear they could be taking advantage of the vulnerable.

Mr. Miller, 47, was born in Luxton, South Australia, and is the father of two children from a past marriage, which ended when he began remembering facts from his past life. He seems to believe this is his 22nd life and that he has the amount of divine love in his heart accumulated in 22 life cycles. Now he and his soul mate, 32-year-old Mary Magdalene, real name Mary Suzanne Luck, are reunited and have formed their very own little cult, in Wilkesdale. Miller first bought 16 hectares of land in the area, and his followers soon followed his example now to be close to their charismatic spiritual leader.

In 2009, Divine Truth members joined forces and bought a $400,000, 250 ha property where they could conduct meetings and build a center for international visitors. Concerned friends and families contacted the Cult Awareness and Information Center to advise followers are selling their houses to move to Wilkesdale. Land clearing has created a cross-like shape which locals say wasn’t done deliberately, and that’s bound to convince plenty of believers this is a divine sign. Meanwhile, police say they’ve been called to examine screams on the property, only to find Divine Truth members practicing an exercise that actually helps them deal with “past soul damage”

Alan John Miller admits”There’s almost certainly a million people who say they’re Jesus and most of them are in asylums. But one of us has to be. How do I know I am? Because I remember everything about my life.” He means all 2,000 years of it…

Artist Marta Minujin Creates 25 Meter High Tower of Babel

Popular Argentine artist Marta Minujin has created a 25-meter-high spiraling Tower of Babel made from 30,000 books written in different languages.

This modern version of the Tower of Babel was designed in festivity of Buenos Aires’ designation as World Book Capital 2011, by UNESCO, and local authorities say it represents the thoughts of pluralism and diversity which also characterize the Argentine capital city. This isn’t Minujin’s first experience with book installations; in 1983, when democracy was restored in Argentina, she built a model of the Parthenon from books banned by the former military dictatorship.

The tower consists of a spiraling metal frame and around 30,000 books written in most of the world’s languages and dialects. You can find all kinds of books, from dictionaries and encyclopedias to software manuals and classic novels, arranged on six levels. The bottom level features a collection of books from around the world, the first and second levels are for American books, the third and fourth are reserved for Europe, the fifth for Africa and the sixth for Asia. 16,000 of the books were donated by 52 embassies in Buenos Aires, while the rest were given by Argentine readers.

Chinese Two Headed Baby Born With One Body

A conjoined twins sharing one single body was born at Suining City Central Hospital in Sinchuan province, southwestern China, according to Ms Wang, a hospital staff

The babies were born by caesarean. The twins weighted 4 kilograms and measured 51 centimetres.

They have two spines, two esophaguses and share other crucial organs. Doctors said that it would be nearly not possible to separate them.

“It is hard to say how they will stay alive in the future but we will try the best to keep them alive at the moment,” said Pu Youhua, a doctor at Suining Hospital.

Ms. Wang said the parents, who are refugee farmers living outside of the southwestern city, did not know about the abnormality until two days before the mother was due to give birth.

Two ultra sound scans in September and February failed to disclose the two heads because the technicians were viewing the single embryo in profile.

The pair has now been moved to a hospital in nearby Chongqing for additional examination.

Lu Zhi-hao From China Named As World's Fattest Boy

A four year old boy from China, weighing 62 kilograms, has been named the world's heaviest boy.

Lu Zhi-hao, who is 110cms tall from Shunde, Guangdong, is being taken by his worried parents to Hong Kong to try and undertake his obesity.

Dubbed by Chinese media as China's "no. 1 fat kid" Lu Zhi-hao, known as Xiao Hoa, has been taken to numerous hospitals in Guangdong to find out why he's so fat, but doctors can only say that it is down to awful eating habits.

If something is not done to decrease his weight, doctors predict Lu Zhi-hao's obesity will become life-threatening by the time he turns 20.

A Hong Kong weight-loss centre has offered to help Lu Zhi-hao lose weight for free. The centre, which has not given out its name, uses non-intrusive Japanese skill to help the body break down fat.

Xiao Hao's parents are now applying for a consent to travel to Hong Kong and hope to be here with their obese child in a couple of weeks.

"We hope there must be specialists in Hong Kong who can help us," says Lu Zhi-hao's father, Lu Ye-ming.

The mother and father of the child are both of normal weight, and obesity has not been a part of the family's health history. Lu Zhi-hao gradually ate his way to fatness.

He is now on a diet, which means reducing down from his regular three bowls of rice per meal to just one bowl.

The WHO says more than 20 percent of the populations in some Chinese cities are now obese.

Princess Diana’s Dress Sold For $276,000 In Auction

A pair of dresses worn by Princess Diana sold at a pop culture sale in Beverly Hills for a total of US$276,000 (NZ$349,000), a spokesman for the auction house has said.

The two dresses, which have been held in climate-controlled storage since her death in August 1997, were auctioned to a famous museum for US$144,000 and US$132,000, respectively, said Darren Julien, president and CEO of Julien's Auctions.

"We did have bidders from all over the world participating, and it's great to have them go to a museum where they are going to be on display and valued by the public," Julien said.

Julien said he could not name the museum without consent from officials there.

The dress that sold for US$144,000 was described by the public sale house as a black crepe evening gown that Diana wore during a state visit in 1992.

The princess wore the second dress, which is silk chiffon and strapless, to the Cannes Film Festival in 1987 as well as in a portrait sitting that year and to a 1989 presentation of "Miss Saigon" at Theatre Royal in London.

The two dresses had been auctioned by Diana for contributions three months before her death, Julien said.

The owners, WeTV and Wedding Central, decided the time was right to auction them again to match with the April 29 wedding of Britain's Prince William to Kate Middleton.

He said a portion of the income would be donated to one of Diana's charities.

Diana, who married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981, died after a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.

Last Veteran Of World War I, Claude Choules Dies At 110

Claude Choules, the only lasting male veteran of World War I and one of the last people to have served in both world wars, died May 5 at a nursing home near Perth in western Australia. He was 110, and no cause of death was reported.

Mr. Choules was the last known existing combatant of the war. Green, who turned 110 in February, served as a waitress in the Women’s Royal Air Force.

He was wedded to the former Ethel Wildgoose, whom he met on the way to Australia in 1926. She died many years ago at age 98. They had three children, according to the Australian Associated Press. He lied about his age so he could join the British Royal Navy in 1916, two years after the Great War began. Enlistees were hypothetical to be at least 18 years old.

In 1926, he transferred to the Royal Australian Navy after working as a coach at a naval depot, according to the Worcester News. “I was nobody,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in 2009 of his years in England. “But I was somebody here.”

During World War II, he was a torpedo officer and was assigned to blow up the Australian navy’s ships in Fremantle Harbour, in western Australia, if Japanese forces invaded. Mr. Choules retired at age 55 after working with the Naval Dockyard Police.

He wrote a memoir, “The Last of the Last,” which was published two years ago.

He was married to the former Ethel Wildgoose, whom he met on the way to Australia in 1926. She died several years ago at age 98. They had three children, according to the Australian Associated Press.

Despite the fame his military service brought him, Mr. Choules later in life became a pacifist who was uncomfortable with anything that glorified war. He disagreed with the celebration of Anzac Day, Australia’s most important war memorial holiday, and refused to march in parades held each year to mark the holiday.

“I had a pretty poor start,” he told a reporter in 2009. “But I had a good finish.”

Cockpit Voice Recorder Found From Air France Mystery Crash

The cockpit voice recorder from an Air France plane that crashed inexplicably nearly two years ago, killing all 228 people on board, has been found, the head of the company announced.

The declaration came "only hours" after the recovery of the flight data recorder's memory unit, Air France chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said, citing the official French air accident investigation agency, the Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA).

He called it "another important step forward in the inquiry" into the cause of the crash, which remains unidentified nearly two years after it happened.

Air France flight 447 crashed in violent weather en route to Paris from Brazil on June 1, 2009. It took nearly two years and a huge undersea search to locate the bulk of the wreckage deep in the Atlantic Ocean.

Only about 50 bodies were ever found, but investigators announced last month that the fuselage still contained human remnants.

The discovery of the two data recorders may lastly explain why the Airbus A330 dropped out of the sky and bellyflopped into the ocean, falling so rapidly that air masks did not have time to deploy.

The cockpit voice recorder was brought to the face by the Remora 6000, the same remote-controlled submarine that brought the flight data recorder memory unit up from the Atlantic on Sunday.

Deadly Fungus Wiping Out Amphibians

A deadly and infectious fungal disease first struck Mexican salamanders in the 1970s, found a new study. From there, it spread through Guatemala and Costa Rica over the next two decades.

As the first study among salamanders to document the history of an epidemic of the sickness, the research helps verify the fungus (known as Bd, for Batrachyochytrium dendrobatidis) as a major cause of widespread amphibian collapse in current decades. Some 40 percent of frogs, toads and other amphibian species are presently in decline.

The findings could also lead to enhanced ways of slowing or preventing the spread of Bd and similar outbreaks in the years to come.

"This really shows how devastating this disease can be," said lead author Tina Cheng, a graduating master’s student in ecology at San Francisco State University. "Up until now, it was not known that this pathogen had any bang on salamanders, and many are highly threatened right now."

Animals that become tainted with the fungus develop chytridiomycosis. They shed their skin and become lethargic. Sickened salamanders lose their tails. Frogs lose weight and become so insensitive that they fail to turn themselves over when put on their backs. Death comes in a matter of weeks.

Since the discovery of Bd, researchers have associated the fungus to the collapse of frog and toad populations in California, Australia, Panama and Peru. Some species have already gone extinct because of it.