Girl, 7, weeps stones
INDIA: A seven-year-old girl who hails from an Indian village near Hyderabad has been weeping stones since October 26. About 12 to 25 stones pop out painlessly from her right eye, reports Asiaone.com. (https://bit.ly/tCZI0M)
Specialists have been approached by the family, however, ophthalmologists have been unable to diagnose the cause of the stone discharge. Whenever the stones are about to fall out, the lower portion of the child's right eye swells up.
Initially, the family thought it was a divine phenomenon and offered prayers to the Gods to stop the occurrence, the parents told the news website. However, the discharge has continued unabated.
We'll bee OK: The real crisis bothering Europe
EUROPE: Forget about the recession, there's another crisis plaguing Europe. And lawmakers are so worried, they're quoting Einstein.
Bothered by spiking mortality rates for bees, Europe's parliamentarians have voted overwhelmingly to urge the EU to provide more funding for the beekeeping sector.
MEPs voted 534 in favour, with 16 against and 92 abstentions, to support research and development in veterinary medicine to save the declining bee population, while also enforcing legislation on killer pesticides.
"Beekeeping is crucial for our society as pollination plays an essential role in preserving biodiversity and maintaining sustainable European agriculture and food security," said Hungarian Socialist Csaba Tabajdi, who drafted the resolution.
"Albert Einstein once said that without bees, man would live no more than four years," he added.
Better data on hives and bee losses were needed as well as funding for medicines because pharmaceutical firms were reluctant to invest in a relatively small market.
The European Commission also needed to issue legislative proposals to turn recommendations on pesticides into law, parliamentarians said.
Some 84 percent of Europe's fauna and 76 percent of agriculture depend on pollination from bees.
Obama insured against crocodiles in Australia
SYDNEY: US President Barack Obama is expected to receive a warm welcome in Australia Wednesday, but just in case the reception is wilder than expected a firm has offered him insurance against crocodiles.
Obama will be the fifth US president to visit close ally Australia, and his flying two-day visit will take in the staid capital Canberra as well as the Northern Territory town of Darwin, in the heart of "Crocodile Dundee" country.
Local firm TIO has snapped up the opportunity to insure the high-profile visitor, issuing a him with a Crocodile Attack Insurance policy which will pay out Ausê50,000 (USê50,870) if the president is fatally attacked by a reptile.
"It's a unique product for a unique environment and we're excited to be issuing one of these policies for Obama as a memento of his time in the Territory," chief executive Richard Harding said.
The company, which has been providing crocodile cover for more than 20 years, hopes to present a framed copy of the policy -- which features a menacing photo of the deadly predator -- to Obama in Darwin on Thursday.
An average of two people are killed each year in Australia by salt water crocodiles, known locally as "salties", which can grow up to seven metres (23 feet) long and weigh more than a tonne.
In June, park rangers harpooned a monster 4.5 metre croc at a waterhole northeast of Darwin where it had been terrorising fishermen.
It was one of nearly 200 of the man-eaters trapped in the territory in the first half of the year.