Weird News Thread ....

[Jolie Rouge]

ORAL SEX NOT CONSIDERED SEX BY YOUTH

Oral sex is a growing phenomenon among high school students.

A long-running concern for parents and young adults alike is the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. With more and more teenagers engaging in the act, the risk of receiving an STD has grown.

One of the causes for this epidemic is the way that young Americans view the term 'sex'. The majority of teenagers draw a line between oral sex and the act of intercourse when it comes to defining what 'sex' really is. For high schoolers all over the country, oral sex has become seen as a risk-free activity.

While sex education continues to spread across the country to millions of young Americans each year, so do sexually transmitted diseases.

In their minds, the act does not have the same consequences as intercourse: no pregnancy, no disease, no commitment and no loss of virginity, The Montreal Gazette reports. "It's the new petting," says one social worker and youth counselor Doreen Lothian. According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than half of U.S. teens believe oral sex does not matter as much as sexual intercourse. "Kids aren't using condoms for oral sex," says Stephanie Mitelman, a sexuality educator. "Approximately two-thirds of sexually transmitted
infections will affect adolescents and youth from 15 to 25.

In regards to the 'sex' definition, would you agree with the majority of high schoolers in saying that oral sex is no considered 'sex,' while intercourse is?

Or are they both considered the same?

If participating in oral sex, does one lose their virginity?

[Ladytiger]

Swan Slaughter Given Go-Ahead
Birds' Appetites Threaten U.S. Waters, Wildlife Agency Says
By Anita Huslin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 3, 2003; Page B01


U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said yesterday that they plan to allow states to slaughter more than 80 percent of mute swans in U.S. waters to curb the birds' consumption of underwater grass beds that sustain fish and bird populations.

In the Chesapeake Bay region, where the mute population has grown to nearly 5,000 -- the heaviest concentration on the East Coast -- officials said they hope to begin shooting the birds once the federal permits are issued, possibly as soon as August.

"We are extremely anxious to have the permit," said Mike Slattery, deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "We have been directed by our governor to move as quickly as possible" to begin killing the birds, Slattery said

Virtually all of the birds in the Chesapeake region can be traced to a small flock of mute swans that were imported from England in the late 1950s by an Eastern Shore land owner who wanted them to grace his ponds, according to state officials. Since then, the population in Maryland alone has doubled nearly 10 times.

Maryland and nine other states received federal permits to begin killing the swans but were blocked from doing so in May by the group Friends of Animals, which contended that the Fish and Wildlife Service had not provided adequate environmental justification for approving the animals' destruction.

Yesterday the service released an assessment that depicted the swans, long admired for their snowy white plumage and graceful long necks, as decidedly inelegant interlopers gobbling their way through acres of aquatic meadows, destroying nursery and habitat areas for fish and crabs and elbowing out native migratory birds.

"These birds stay in one area most of the year, and they're very voracious eaters," said Paul Schmidt, assistant director for the service's migratory birds and state programs. "Tens of thousands of wetland acres have been impacted by these birds at any one time."

Federal officials estimated the U.S. mute swan population of 21,400 birds eats 30 to 40 million pounds of underwater grasses each year. In the Chesapeake Bay region, scientists said, the swans devour more than one-quarter of the 40 million-pound annual crop of aquatic grasses.

"Because so many other species rely on that underwater grass for survival, it's clearly causing problems," Schmidt said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service's announcement yesterday puts the states back on a campaign they had launched several years ago to reduce the great white birds to the role that they were once imported for: well-mannered, unobtrusive ornaments on the landscape. (While generally silent, the birds are not "mute." Unlike other swans, which can be quite vocal, they are known for making grunts, snorts and quiet whistles.)

Defenders of the birds reacted with disgust to yesterday's announcement.

"It's a terrible combination of selfishness and stupidity that's driving this effort," said Kathryn Burton, president and founder of Save Our Swans USA, which also sued to block the killing of the birds, which she contends are not the destroyers they are portrayed to be.

"What are they going to do, shoot the adults in front of the little ones?" she said. "It's insane."

What is a mute swan??

[Jolie Rouge]

What is a mute swan??

It is a breed - like a Trumpeter Swan or Canadian Goose.

[Ladytiger]

Thanks Jolie-I kept picturing these "slient" swans. Bwahahaha.

[Jolie Rouge]

Teens arrested with guns, swords, ammo
18-year-old's dad: 'He's never fired a gun'
Monday, July 7, 2003 Posted: 12:45 PM EDT

OAKLYN, New Jersey (CNN) -- Three New Jersey teenagers have been charged in an alleged plot to execute three people and then go on a shooting spree, armed with rifles, handguns, swords and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, authorities said.

Matthew Lovett, 18, and two other youths, ages 14 and 15, have been charged with conspiracy to commit homicide. They were arrested early Sunday after a report of an alleged hijacking attempt in Oaklyn, a Philadelphia suburb, according to Oaklyn Police Chief Chris Ferrari.
The driver of the vehicle managed to drive off and alert police, who then drove back and found the youths, police said.

Lovett's father on Monday told CNN that his son was a "homebody" who has never fired a gun. Ron Lovett said the firearms his son was arrested with all came from his collection. "He never once let on like he was interested in firing a gun," Lovett said.

Ferrari said the teens had strapped rifles and shotguns to their backs and tucked handguns in their waistbands. They were carrying 3-foot swords and knives, along with satchels of ammunition, he said.

"Thankfully, we were able to thwart it before anyone got hurt," Ferrari said.

Authorities say three teenagers were heavily armed.

Matthew Lovett also has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and carjacking, according to Camden County prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi. The two juveniles also have been charged with carjacking and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Sarubbi said.

"They had developed this plan where they were gong to execute three individuals in Oaklyn that they had identified and then continue on through the evening until they ran out of ammunition in a series of random killings throughout the town," Sarubbi said. "This could have been a potentially horrendous situation where many lives could have been jeopardized."

Sarubbi said an initial check shows the firearms were legally obtained and were properly registered. Ron Lovett told CNN his son was voted "most bashful" by his high school classmates and recently graduated "with four As on his report card." "He's never fired a gun, and I don't think he would know what ammunition to put in what chamber ...," Lovett said. "I've never trained him. I never had time to take him out to shoot, and he was just never interested in guns, and I was glad that he wasn't."

Lovett said he kept handguns in a locked box and rifles in a closet. Most of the ammunition was more than 20 years old, he said, left over from days when he used to practice target shooting. He said the large quantity of ammunition police reported finding most likely came from 500-round packs of .22-caliber target bullets. "A couple of those, and you're up to 1,000 rounds," he said.

Matthew Lovett was being held Sunday night at the Camden County Correctional Facility, and the minors were being held at a juvenile detention center.

The teens went to two area high schools, Collingswood and Haddon Heights, Ferrari said. Lovett was a recent graduate of one of the schools, he said.


Teen Suspect in Murder Plot Often Teased
By GEOFF MULVIHILL


OAKLYN, N.J. (AP) - Matthew Lovett was known as an angry young man: He dressed all in black, drew violent pictures and walked around town with a baseball bat. Acquaintances said he kept a list of people who had teased him as far back as grade school.

Early Sunday, Lovett, 18, was arrested with two other teenagers on charges they plotted to kill three teens and open fire randomly on other people with a cache of guns and ammunition they were carrying. Lovett was being held on $1 million bail Monday.

Authorities would not discuss a possible motive, but people who knew the teens believe Lovett was fed up with the teasing that he and his younger brother had endured. James Lovett was constantly tormented for a speech impediment caused by a cleft palate, according to schoolmates.

``They'd all make fun of the way he talked,'' said Joe Oldham, a 14-year-old who had a class with the younger boy.


But he said he never saw Matthew Lovett teased to his face because he was intimidating - and he was sometimes armed with a bat. Oaklyn teenagers also say he practiced martial arts and had compiled a list of his enemies since elementary school.


Authorities would not confirm the existence of a list, but Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said three people believed to be intended victims were notified Sunday of the plot. He declined to identify them, but Oaklyn Police Chief Chris Ferrari indicated they were students.


People who know the teen say Matthew Lovett not only liked the science fiction movie ``The Matrix,'' but also dressed the part, often wearing all-black clothing and slicking back his hair.


He sometimes referred to himself as The Mystic, The One or Neo in homage to Keanu Reeves' character in the ``Matrix'' films - high-tech thrillers where the real world is merely a facade for a darker, grimmer world where a computer hacker leads humanity in a revolt against the machines that have taken over the world.


Lovett was also such an avid player of role-playing video games that he and his friends called themselves the Warriors of Freedom after one of them.


``He wouldn't even talk,'' said Chris Brown, who graduated last month from Collingswood High School, as did the older Lovett. ``He was just by himself.''


The three teens were arrested after attempting a carjacking in this Philadelphia suburb, authorities said. They had several guns belonging to Matthew's father, including rifles, a shotgun, several handguns, swords and 2,000 rounds of ammunition.


The father, Ron Lovett, issued a statement through a family member Monday, apologizing for his son's behavior.


``I'd like to apologize to the town and the people of Oaklyn for what my son has done,'' Lovett said. ``I'd like to ask everyone to say a prayer for Matthew. I hope he can receive the counseling he needs.''


Ron Lovett, a single parent since his wife died nearly 10 years ago, had sympathy from his neighbors.


``It takes years and years of talking with your children to tell them you ignore people'' who make fun of them, said Laura Doria, who with her husband owns a deli near the Lovett apartment.


The teen's uncle, Tom Crymes, said Matthew Lovett could not have carried out the alleged plan.


``He absolutely could not have followed through with that,'' Crymes said. ``If he was determined to do that, then he would have shot at the officer'' who arrested him.


All three were charged with offenses including conspiracy to commit murder.


Craig Mitnick, an attorney for Matthew Lovett, told CNN on Monday that his client said he ``never, ever was going hurt anyone.'' Mitnick said the rounds of ammunition that police found were more than 20 years old and might not have detonated.


Mitnick also told CNN that the teen is ``a 12-year-old in an 18-year-old's body'' and has a ``very fragile psyche.''


Authorities have not identified the two boys, ages 14 and 15. They were ordered held Monday at a youth detention center. Sarubbi said he would seek to have both tried as adults.


John Underwood, a lawyer for the 15-year-old, would not comment, and the other teen did not a have a lawyer at a hearing in juvenile court Monday.



07/07/03 23:00

[Jolie Rouge]

Sex, mob hits: Sims tests virtual morals
Saturday, July 5, 2003 Posted: 9:17 AM EDT (1317 GMT)


NEW YORK (AP) -- Jeremy Chase admits to shaking down his enemies. His Web site advertises extortion, hits and prostitution for a hefty fee.

Chase is a mob leader -- but only in the virtual world. He is one of hundreds of players who found the path of lawlessness and deviance too irresistible when "The Sims Online" challenged them to "Be Somebody ... else."

The popular commercial game, where thousands of people interact electronically, is turning into a petri dish of anti-social behavior. And that's raising questions about whether limits on conduct should be set in such emerging virtual worlds, even if they are huge adult playpens.

"Games give people the opportunity to either do something they've never had the ability to do before or allow them to do the stuff they are too afraid to do in real life," said Chase, an unemployed, self-described computer geek who lives in Sacramento, California. "This is as close to the real-life mafia that I'm going to be able to get."

All online games see their share of ne'er-do-wells, or "griefers." In other games where violence is the norm and killing routine, thugs delight in slaughtering the less powerful and stealing their loot.

But there are no guns in "Sims," made by Maxis, and it's impossible to do serious harm to another player. That means griefers -- admittedly a small percentage of the game's 100,000 subscribers -- have to be devilishly creative in their social deviance.

Chase and others insist they're just role-playing like everyone else in the game. But harassment can be a big deal in "Sims," which resembles a neighborhood of virtual dollhouses where you build a home and invite others to come over and play.

The game's raison d'etre is socializing; barely a half year old, it's the biggest game yet whose rewards come from making friends and being popular.

One mob tactic is gathering the foot-soldiers to stigmatize someone else with several so-called "red links" -- a sort of demerit that shows others how many enemies a player has.

For gamers who have spent hours building a reputation, red links can be devastating. The platform may be virtual, but the attack isn't.

Simulated or real?
"It's only a game but the people operating those little animated cartoons are real," said Holly Shevenock, a postal worker from Harrisburg, Pennsylania.

Shevenock quit playing "Sims" because she was spending too much time in it -- up to five hours a day. "If you're not careful, you begin to play this game with your real emotions."

She and others said they knew several people who stopped playing or reduced their time online because of groups that seemed intent on harassment.

Psychologists who study online behavior say in-game spats and the visceral responses to them aren't surprising. With simulations becoming more lifelike, the line between real and fake is blurred.

"The more real you try to make these online worlds, the more the problems are real-world problems," said John Suler, a Rider University professor who specializes in the psychology of cyberspace. "It's not always easy to contain this stuff in the fantasy world."

The game's Terms of Service agreement tells players they cannot "harass, threaten, embarrass, or do anything else to another Member or guest that is unwarranted." They're also told, "The laws that apply in the off-line world must be obeyed online as well."

Maxis gives warnings, terminates threads in message boards, suspends players and in extreme cases, bans accounts. Chase himself endured a three-day suspension for what he said was foul language.

"We have a very big hammer to wield when we have to," said Kyle Brink, a Maxis associate producer.

But Maxis can't cover everything.

Real-world liability
Some players have reported online spats leaking out of the game players have hacked into others' accounts, posed as acquaintances and spread rumors about real people through instant messaging. Some have even reported identity theft.

That puts far more pressure on game makers to begin cracking down in earnest on gamers, experts say. It could lead to more real-world, legal liability for both players and the companies that make the games.

"We're going to be forced to create a whole new area of social convention -- and probably law -- that reflects that kind of behavior," said psychologist David Greenfield, founder of the Center for Internet Studies and author of the book "Virtual Addiction."

"You can't produce something that's this potent or powerful psychologically and not have some accountability for it," he said.

Piers Mathieson and his wife, Jennifer, are two more hardcore "Sims" players. They log several hours most days.

After the Las Vegas couple distributed photos of themselves to friends, one griefer hacked into Piers' America Online account and stole his in-game character's possessions. Someone else posed as Piers and told other players that Jennifer had died of cancer.

The Mathiesons may have been easy targets. Their character, Mia Wallace, was the most popular in Alphaville, as one of the game's servers, or cities, is known.

"You start having to question who your real friends are, who you can trust, who you can't trust," Jennifer Mathieson said. "It also paints a huge bulls-eye in your forehead."

The two are also founders of the Sim Shadow Government, a group boasting 1,000 members dedicated to cracking down on griefers where Maxis couldn't.

Though the Mathiesons say they dispense justice, their online tactics can be just as rough. The couple say they have ransacked apartments, sent out their "troops" to urinate on others' lawns and once drove another player from the game.

Brink insists the griefers are a far less serious problem in "Sims" than in other games because it has a different demographic, a lot of women, people from all age groups, and "players who are looking to build not destroy," he said. "This is a mature, social crowd as a whole."

There are also many ways to block out people who bother you. Even the players agree, after all, that there's no law against being annoying.

"It reminds me of sales calls during dinner time," said Laura Robinson, a student who lives in Philadelphia. "They always seem to message at the wrong time, which in my case is always."

[Jolie Rouge]

Sunset reveals inscription on Biblical tomb
Points to John the Baptist's father
Monday, July 7, 2003 Posted: 12:12 PM EDT

Anthropologist Joe Zias studies a cast of a Greek inscription found on an ancient burial monument near the Mount of Olives in Jersalem.


JERUSALEM (AP) -- The discovery was a stroke of luck: the light of the setting sun hit an ancient tomb at just the right angle and revealed hints of a worn inscription, unnoticed for centuries, commemorating the father of John the Baptist.

"This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr, very pious priest, father of John," the inscription of 47 Greek letters reads.

The inscription probably does not mean that the father of the biblical figure is actually buried in the 60-foot-high (18-meter-high) funerary monument at the foot of the Mount of Olives, say the text's discoverers.

But it does give new insight into the local lore surrounding the early figures of the Christian Church.

Scholars say the words were probably written several hundred years after Zachariah's death -- and after the tomb's construction -- by Byzantine Christians.

The Byzantines scoured the Holy Land in the 4th and 5th centuries and, drawing on local tradition, marked sites they felt were linked to the characters they knew from the Bible.

Leading the charge was Helena, the newly converted mother of Emperor Constantine, who selected the site now marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, said to be the site where Jesus was crucified and buried.

But even such second-hand references are important, scholars say, because they confirm the traditions among early Christians and because there are so few artifacts directly relating to biblical narrative.

"We actually have contact with ancient history through Byzantine Christians," said Jim Strange, a New Testament scholar at the University of South Florida.

The text was discovered by physical anthropologist Joe Zias and inscriptions expert Emile Puech. Zias, an Israeli originally from Ypsilanti, Michigan, and the French-born Puech are publishing their findings on the Zachariah inscription in the upcoming July issue of the Revue Biblique, a French quarterly.

The grave of Absalom?

The inscription is carved into the facade of what is known as Absalom's Tomb, one of three large funerary monuments in the Kidron Valley, between Jerusalem's Old City and the Mount of Olives. The monuments were apparently built for Jerusalem's aristocracy around the time of Jesus.

It's unlikely Absalom, son of King David, lies buried in the tomb, which was built hundreds of years after his death.

Medieval Jewish tradition, however, held that the monument was his tomb, and -- based on that tradition -- Jews, Christians and Muslims stoned the monument for centuries to curse Absalom for his deeds: murdering his half brother Amnon for raping their sister Tamar, and later inciting a rebellion against his father.

The once smooth facade became badly pockmarked, and the Zachariah inscription carved above the entrance arch, about 30 feet (9 meters) from the ground, began to fade.

Zias, a member of the Science and Archaeology Group, a team of scholars affiliated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discovered the first letters by chance, on a photograph shown to him by an art history student asking for advice on a paper about Absalom's Tomb.

The photographer told Zias he shot the picture years ago, toward dusk in summer, with just the right shadows, and that at any other time, the letters might have remained unnoticeable.

Zias put up scaffolding to get a closer look and Puech, using a low-tech method involving paper mache, lifted off a cast.

Puech made out the inscription -- two lines, each about four feet (1.2 meters) long, with letters up to four inches (10 centimeters) tall. The letters correspond to the Byzantine period, he wrote.

Puech and Zias said they've spotted several more lines of writing and will lift more casts off the facade this week.

They've already made out one name, "Simon," perhaps a reference to "Simon the Elder," the pious man who cradled the infant Jesus and recognized him as the Messiah.

It's possible the additional lines include the phrase, "He who held in his arms God's Messiah," wrote Puech, a scholar at Jerusalem's Ecole Biblique research institute.

Zias and Puech hope they'll also find the name of James, brother of Jesus, citing one 4th century Christian tradition that Zachariah, Simon and James were buried together in the Kidron Valley.

Clues in the Gospel

There's no biblical clue to the nature of Zachariah's death or the location of his tomb. The Gospel of Luke describes him as an elderly man from the priestly caste of Abijah who, while burning incense in the Temple one day, was told by an angel that his wife Elizabeth, also advanced in years, would bear a son, who was later to become John the Baptist.

Jewish historian Josephus writes that a priest named Zachariah was slain by Zealots in the Temple and thrown into the Kidron Valley below -- which would explain the "martyr" reference in the Greek text.

The inscription suggests that local Christians believed Zachariah was buried at the site of the tomb. But because hundreds of years had passed from his death to the inscription, and with no other corroboration, Zias and other scholars say they'll never know for sure.

The inscription, at best, sheds light on ancient Christian beliefs.

"You may be able to confirm the existence of a tradition there," said Stephen Pfann, a Bible scholar and head of the University of the Holy Land. "It's a very important witness to the history of Byzantine Christianity."

[Jolie Rouge]

Catch of the day?
Fangtooth, snotthead, goblin shrimp
By Richard Stenger CNN
Monday, July 7, 2003 Posted: 1:07 PM EDT

The deep-sea expedition may have discovered more than 100 new species.

(CNN) -- Many of the known denizens of the deep look as bizarre as their names: Snotthead. Fangtooth. Gulper eel. So what about the creepy creatures that lurk in unchartered depths? A team of international scientists was determined to find out.

This month, they are examining their catch from a deep-sea expedition in the Southern Hemisphere, more than 1,500 species photographed or collected from unexplored waters along the sea floor between New Zealand and Australia.

The haul includes a sea spider with organs in its legs, a shark with sandpaper-like skin and a squid with a big eye to find prey and a little one to avoid becoming it.

"If you lived in pitch black, hunted by feeling vibrations or looking for the tiniest glimpses of light, withstood massive pressures and had to wait for months at a time to feed, you'd end up looking like Gollum as well," said Mark Norman, a biologist who rode on the research vessel Tangaroa, which completed a month-long voyage in June.

Norman's reference is to a gruesome character in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," but some specimens photographed, netted or dredged by the Tangaroa crew down to depths of 1.2 miles (two kilometers) were too weird for science fiction or fantasy.

Snout as metal detector

The flabby coffinfish walks on the sea floor on short leg-like fins and can swallow large volumes of water to expand into a ball, making it less appealing to predators.

The Pacific spookfish uses its snout like a metal detector, scanning for the electrical impulses of prey hidden in the mud. Goblin shrimp have twisted faces and heavy-plated armor.

"If you lived in pitch black, hunted by feeling vibrations or looking for the tiniest glimpses of light, withstood massive pressures and had to wait for months at a time to feed, you'd end up looking like Gollum as well.
-- Marine biologist Mark Norman


And rather than live in shells, which are scarce on the ocean floor, one variety of hermit crab dwells inside the tough, leathery bodies of zonathid, a relative of coral with stinging tentacles.

Many in the Tangaroa catch are relatives of known species, but a preliminary tally suggests there are more than 100 new species of fish and invertebrates, according Norman, senior curator of the Museum Victory in Australia.

The expedition, dubbed NORFANZ because it sailed near Norfolk Island and was a joint project of Australian and New Zealand, hopes to shed light on the depths of the Tasman Sea, one of the least understood, watery recesses of the planet.

"Life is precious and especially adapted for every nook and cranny of this Earth," said Norman. "The deep-sea deserves as much protection and consideration as the richest of tropical rainforests."

[Jolie Rouge]

PETA, KFC in game of chicken

Animal rights group says fast food chain's statements about processing practices are misleading.
July 7, 2003: 10:18 AM EDT


CHICAGO (Reuters) - An animal rights group said it plans to file a lawsuit Monday against fast-food chain KFC, accusing the company of making misleading statements on its Web site regarding how the chickens it sells are treated.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it will file suit in California state court against KFC and its parent, Yum Brands Inc (YUM: Research, Estimates)., seeking an injunction to stop what it says are deceptive statements on the KFC Web site.

PETA contends that chickens KFC buys from suppliers are abused through drugging, feeding and slaughter practices. PETA's director of vegan outreach, Bruce Friedrich, said the treatment is legal, but "they can't legally lie about it, and they have been."

Friedrich alleged KFC's Web site and other public communications contain misstatements about how chickens are treated. "The claims [on the Web site] are transparently absurd," he said. "We have tried writing letters to explain to them what on their Web site is laughably, obviously wrong, and they've ignored us."

Spokespeople for KFC and Yum could not be reached for comment.

In May, KFC announced plans to adopt more humane poultry-handling guidelines, addressing the breeding, hatching and raising of chickens. At the time, PETA said the guidelines did not go far enough to prevent cruelty to the animals.

PETA, in a draft of the planned lawsuit obtained by Reuters, takes issue with a KFC statement on its Web site that its guidelines for the treatment of chickens are designed "to ensure that all birds are handled humanely and suffer no pain."

That statement "is deceptive at best," PETA said in the draft.

The PETA suit is one of the new risks facing food companies, such as Kraft and McDonald's, recently. Plaintiffs in "obesity-lawsuits" allege that certain food products were responsible for making them overweight.

These cases have either been withdrawn or dismissed by judges, but some analysts warn that it takes just one or two successful suits to hurt a company's image and its stock.

[Jolie Rouge]

Parachutist Died Because Cords Were Cut



LONDON (Reuters) - British police investigating how a young sky diver plunged 13,000 feet to his death revealed on Monday his parachute cords had been deliberately severed.

Horrified spectators at an airshow in northern England last week saw Stephen Hilder, 20, plummet to earth as both his main and reserve parachutes failed to open.

Now police say they believe a fellow sky diving enthusiast may have been responsible and are checking whether anyone held a grudge against him.

In particular they are reviewing video footage of a fancy dress party he attended the night before he died for any clues to a possible motive.


"Murder is one of the motives we are looking at because the cords were deliberately cut and whoever did this must have known what they were doing," Detective Superintendent Colin Andrews of Humberside police told BBC radio.


The severed parts of the cords had been concealed, leaving the experienced sky diver, who had more than 200 jumps under his belt, little chance of discovering them.


Hilder died instantly at Hilbaldstow Airfield from multiple injuries.


"Whoever did this must have had knowledge of parachuting," the officer said. "They must have known that when he jumped out of that plane he had no chance of surviving."



07/07/03 09:30



{{Sounds like an episode of CSI ****

[Jolie Rouge]

India Sends Elephants to Spa
By AJITH LAWRENCE


TRIVANDRUM, India (AP) - When the temple elephants of southern Kerala go on holiday during the rainy season, they get some of the same ayurvedic spa treatment that draws tourists to this region during the dry months.

The region is known for its ``ayurvedic holidays'' that lure people for mud baths, herbal body wraps, and special diets based on ancient Indian lore and practices to leave them refreshed and healthier.

The elephants who work at Hindu temples - carrying sacred objects during processions and posing for photographs - get some time off when the heavy monsoon rains keep most tourists away.

The state's temple authority gives the elephants a holiday at a special park, where trainers wash them in fresh ponds, give them extra doses of vitamins, and giant balls of special rice, peanuts, herbal seeds and ayurvedic paste. ``By this treatment the elephants look fresh and are enabled to work the whole season for the temple-related religious functions,'' K. Mainkandan, administrator of the Kerala state temple authority, said Monday. ``Like humans, the elephants are get rejuvenated and stand erect with pomp and pride.''


The 62 elephants have 172 keepers to look after them at the park at Guruvayoor, 217 miles north of the state capital, Trivandrum.

Most of them came as donations to the deities of the temples. Manikandan said that from this year, such elephant donations will have to be accompanied by 400,000 rupees (US$8,650) in cash to help pay for their upkeep.



07/07/03 10:52