Monks in serious condition after bee attack

More than 70 Thai novice monks have been admitted to three hospitals after they were stung by bees at Chedi Luang Worawiharn in Chiang Mai's Muang district. Large swarms of bees from several hives attacked the novice monks who were sweeping the grounds of the temple. Phra Ratcha Jetiyajarn, the temple abbot, said 76 novice monks were stung and rushed to three hospitals in central Chiang Mai.

Fifty three monks were admitted to Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital. Nineteen of them were in serious condition, said hospital director Dr Naren Chotirosnimitr. Another 23 monks were treated at the Chang Phuek Hospital and Rhuampath Chiangmai Hospital. Dr Naren said of those in serious condition, six arrived at the hospital in a coma. Their blood pressure had dropped dangerously low.



The director said 34 monks treated for minor injuries at Maharaj hospital were later discharged. The doctors will visit them at the temple to follow up on their condition. Dr Naren said bee attacks could be fatal if patients sustain multiple stings and are allergic to them.

Patients typically experience nausea and difficulty breathing and develop a rash. In serious cases, their blood pressure drops sharply. Phra Ratcha Jetiyajarn said he had no idea what provoked the bees to attack. The monks were carrying out their routine clean-up of the temple ground and had had no problem with the bees before. Despite the attack, the temple will keep the bee hives and will warn outsiders and tourists visiting the temple to stay well away from them, he said.

RIP Lonesome George and his subspecies

Staff at the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador say Lonesome George, a giant tortoise believed to be the last of its subspecies, has died. Scientists estimate he was about 100 years old. Park officials said they would carry out a post-mortem to determine the cause of his death. With no offspring and no known individuals from his subspecies left, Lonesome George became known as the rarest creature in the world.



For decades, environmentalists unsuccessfully tried to get the Pinta Island tortoise to reproduce with females from a similar subspecies on the Galapagos Islands. Park officials said the tortoise was found dead in his corral by his keeper of 40 years, Fausto Llerena. While his exact age was not known, Lonesome George was estimated to be about 100, which made him a young adult as the subspecies can live up to an age of 200. Lonesome George was first seen by a Hungarian scientist on the Galapagos island of Pinta in 1972. Environmentalists had believed his subspecies (Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni) had become extinct.

Lonesome George became part of the Galapagos National Park breeding programme. After 15 years of living with a female tortoise from the nearby Wolf volcano, Lonesome George did mate, but the eggs were infertile. He also shared his corral with female tortoises from Espanola island, which are genetically closer to him than those from Wolf volcano, but Lonesome George failed to mate with them. He became a become a symbol of the Galapagos Islands, which attract some 180,000 visitors a year. Galapagos National Park officials said that with George's death, the Pinta tortoise subspecies has become extinct.


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They said his body would probably be embalmed to conserve him for future generations. Tortoises were plentiful on the Galapagos islands until the late 19th century, but were later hunted for their meat by sailors and fishermen to the point of extinction. Their habitat furthermore suffered when goats were introduced from the mainland. The differences in appearance between tortoises from different Galapagos islands were among the features which helped the British naturalist Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution. Some 20,000 giant tortoises of other subspecies still live on the Galapagos.

Environmentalist made unusual stand against property developers

Environmentalist Zhou Haijue was up to his neck in it in a bizarre protest against property developers in southern China.



Zhou, 62 - from Shiliu, Guangdong province - had planted more than 4,000 trees to restore a forest on the edge of his village and when builders said they wanted to use the land, he refused.

"Then overnight every single tree was cut down and my 30 years of planting and caring were ruined," he explained.



So Zhou buried himself up to his neck in the ruined woodland and promised not to leave until officials ruled the land was his. "Officials in the government said they recognised my claim so I didn't have to be there for weeks. But I am ready to go back if I need to," he added.

Social workers considered sending boy to the Congo for exorcism

Council chiefs have been criticised for considering sending a boy in their care for exorcism. The boy, whose family were from Africa, had been taken into care by Islington council in north London. His mother, who no longer had responsibility for her child, asked for him to be sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo for "deliverance". The boy's family claimed this was necessary because they believed he was possessed by "kindoki" or evil spirits. Islington social services officials then paid more than £4,000 for an expert to travel to Africa to investigate. The expert, Richard Hoskins, an academic specialising in African religions, was alarmed by what he saw on the visit, and advised the council that the boy should not be exorcised.

After receiving his report, the council - then under Liberal Democrat control - abandoned the plan. Dr Hoskins said that prior to his trip, some Islington council officials had been "mindful to agree to the request" for exorcism. Speaking at a conference yesterday, he said the case demonstrated how officials in Britain were reluctant to challenge the mistreatement of children when it was committed under the guise of "religious or cultural practices". "This problem is about the underlying failure to tackle abuse when it is masked behind multiculturalism," he said. "We fear to trend where sensibilities might apparently be affected." During his visit to Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, in 2005, Dr Hoskins met the grandparents of the boy at the centre of the case. They told him that the child had been "infected by sorcery" while in the UK and that he "would destroy them all".



The deliverance that the boy was to undergo would have involved starving him of food and fluids for three days. At the end of the fasting period, he would be surrounded by the deliverance team who would pray over him and command the evil spirit to be cast out of the child. When deliverance takes place, the child vomits up the "sorcery bread" that has been infecting him. Dr Hoskins also met the pastor from the Pentecostal church attended by the grandparents, who warned that if the evil spirits were not dealt with, they would cause "strife, illness, divorce, hardship, poverty and death". The pastor claimed that the boy would have sorcery tools to perform magic with, such as mirrors, brushes, sticks and string, and warned that these would have to be confiscated.

Dr Hoskins asked whether the boy would be beaten, and was assured that this was not part of the normal deliverance process. However, when he was presented with a boy who had recently undergone the ordeal, he found the child "scared and traumatised". Islington paid £4,372 to fund the trip, including Dr Hoskins's fee of £3,080, half of the cost of the £710 flight, taxi fares, accommodation and refreshments bills. In his report to the council, the academic wrote: "Whilst I found the family and the church to be very friendly, I cannot recommend that the child be allowed to go through a deliverance service such as that envisaged. From my research I think this might be deeply disturbing and traumatising for him." Islington council acknowledged it had paid Dr Hoskins to travel to Africa, but claimed it was on the instruction of a judge. "It is a normal process in care proceedings to assess the extended family when a child has been removed from parental care," a spokesman said.

Ready and waiting

Kodi the kitten demonstrates how to walk your human

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Meanwhile back in 1968

Here's secretary Angela McWilliams taking her pet leopard, Michael, for a walk on a lead along a London street.


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