Bits and Bites from Around the World > Toadzilla; Bride Balks and Walks during Wedding

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'Toadzilla' world's biggest? Australian rangers find 

'monster' 2.7 kg cane toad

Guinness World Records lists the largest toad at 2.65 kg

Published:  January 20, 2023 13:40

AFP

Cane toad dubbed "Toadzilla" and believed by Australian park rangers to be the world's biggest toad is held by Queensland Department of Environment and Science Ranger Kylee Gray, in Conway National Park, Queensland, Australia Jan. 12, 2023.

Image Credit: Reuters

SYDNEY: Australian rangers have killed an invasive "monster" cane toad discovered in the wilds of a coastal park - a warty brown specimen as long as a human arm and weighing 2.7 kilograms (6 pounds).

The toad was spotted after a snake slithering across a track forced wildlife workers to stop as they were driving in Queensland's Conway National Park, the state government said.

"I reached down and grabbed the cane toad and couldn't believe how big and heavy it was," ranger Kylee Gray said, describing how she discovered the amphibian last week.

"A cane toad that size will eat anything it can fit into its mouth, and that includes insects, reptiles and small mammals," she said.

The animal was taken away and euthanised.

Cane toads were introduced into Queensland in 1935 to control the cane beetle, with devastating consequences for other wildlife.

At 2.7 kilograms - nearly the weight of a newborn human baby - the toad may be a record breaker, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science said in a statement.

Describing it as a "monster", the department said it could end up in the Queensland Museum.

Due to its size, rangers believe it was a female.

What kind of sexist remark is that?

While the age is unknown, "this one has been around a long time," Gray said, explaining that the amphibians can live as long as 15 years in the wild.

Female cane toads can produce up to 30,000 eggs in a season, and the animals are incredibly poisonous, causing local extinctions of some of their predators.

In India, bride calls off wedding as groom fails to count currency notes

After the girl called off the wedding, a heated argument ensued between the two families

Published:  January 22, 2023 14:35

IANS

Illustrative image. The bride called off her wedding when the groom failed to count currency notes.

Image Credit: IANS

Farrukhabad: It was mathematics that led to a wedding being called off in Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad district.

A 21-year-old bride called off her wedding when the groom failed to count currency notes.

The shocking revelation came during the marriage rituals when the priest grew 'doubtful of the man's behaviour' and informed the girl's family.

The bride immediately walked off from the dais which led to a verbal spat between the two families and the police were called.

The bride's family claimed that until the day of the marriage, they were unaware that the 23-year-old groom was 'mentally weak'.

The bride's brother, said, "Marriages usually happen in good faith and the mediator was a close relative, so we trusted him and did not meet the guy. When the priest told us about his odd behaviour, we decided to conduct a test and gave him 30 currency notes of Rs 10 to count which he could not. After knowing about his condition, she refused to marry him."

After the girl called off the wedding, a heated argument ensued between the two families. The matter reached the police who tried to mediate but the bride was not willing to give in so the baraat had to return.

Baraat - Groom's wedding procession.

SHO Anil Kumar Chaube said, "No police complaint has been filed in the matter yet."

Covid-19 > Boston U finds way to make Covid-19 much more deadly

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More lethal strain of COVID created in Boston University lab

By Louis Casiano, Fox News

October 17, 2022 5:55pm  Updated

Researchers at Boston University say they have developed a new COVID strain that has an 80% kill rate following a series of similar experiments first thought to have started the global pandemic that began in China. 

The variant, a combination of Omicron and the original virus in Wuhan, killed 80% of the mice infected with it, the university said. When mice were only exposed to Omicron, they experienced mild symptoms.

The research was conducted by a team of scientists from Florida and Boston at the school’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories. 

They extracted the spike protein from Omicron and attached it with the strain first detected at the onset of the pandemic that began in Wuhan, China. They then documented how the mice reacted to the hybrid strain. 

“In…mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80 percent,” they wrote in a research paper. 

The new strain has five times more infectious virus particles than the Omicron variant, researchers said.

COVID-19 was first detected to have come from a wet market in Wuhan, though many believe the virus was engineered at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The World Health Organization continues to face criticism for its handling of the crisis in its early, most pivotal, days.

The Omicron variant is highly transmissible, even in those who are fully vaccinated. The spike protein is responsible for rates of infectivity, according to researchers, other changes to the virus’ structure determine its deadliness.

One limitation to the study was the breed of mice used, as other types are more similar to humans.

Nice of Boston U to show our insane enemies how to build a much more deadly virus. What madness!

Covid-19 > Heart Surgeon wants CV-19 Boosters halted; Covid-19 Hitting Japan hard

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Japanese Surgeon Calls for Suspension of COVID Boosters

BY JENNIFER MARGULIS AND JOE WANG 

Bright

AUGUST 3, 2022 

In a letter to the peer-reviewed journal Virology, a Japanese cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Kenji Yamamoto, has called for the discontinuation of COVID-19 booster shots. “As a safety measure, further booster vaccinations should be discontinued,” Yamamoto wrote. Among his urgent concerns are the fact that the COVID-19 vaccines have been linked to vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia, which, in some cases, has been lethal to patients.

Yamamoto works at Okamura Memorial Hospital in Shizuoka, Japan. In the letter he explains that he and his colleagues have “encountered cases of infections that are difficult to control,” including some that occurred after open-heart surgery and were still not under control after several weeks of treatment with multiple antibiotics.

These patients, says Yamamoto, showed signs of being immunocompromised, and some of them died.

Yamamoto believes their suppressed immune function is likely to have been caused by COVID-19 vaccination.

It is rare for a cardiac surgeon to get involved in government vaccination policy. It is even rarer for a practicing medical doctor to express an opinion like this that flies in the face of the medical status quo in a prestigious medical journal, and for the medical journal itself to publish the opinion.

If you thought Covid-19 was largely over, you might be right, but not in the far-east. The quality of writing in this article is a bit problematic.

COVID-19: Japan's prime minister tests positive amid

200,000 cases per day in past week

By Allen Cone

   

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a memorial service marking the 77th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II at the Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo, Japan, on Aug.15. The prime minister tested positive for COVID-18 on Sunday. Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/pool/EPA-EFE

Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has tested positive for COVID-19, the government announced Sunday, as the country averaged 200,000 cases in the past week, which was 29.8% of world's total, and record deaths.

The coronavirus situation continues to ease worldwide with 14% weekly decline in cases and 17% drop in deaths.

On Saturday night, Kishida, 65, experienced mild symptoms, slight fever and cough, and took a PCR test on Sunday morning, according to the Prime Minister's Office.

Kishida is resting at his official residence in Tokyo after canceling a planned trip to Tunisia to attend a Tokyo International Conference on African Development, a source told the Japan Times Sunday. He plans to join the conference online.

Last month, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the government's top spokesman, tested positive after ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Taro Kono.

On Sunday, Japan reported 226,171 cases, including 24,780 in Tokyo. The nation added a record 255,534 on Thursday.

Also 226 deaths were added, two days after a record 287. Until this seventh wave, the record was 272 Feb. 23. The country's cumulative fatalities are 37,076 in 28th worldwide.

In the past week, Japan added a world-high 1,400 infections, which was actually a 3% decline, one week after a 3% gain. The nation's deaths were 1,754, which is a 24% gain, and second in the world behind the United States' 2,170, which dropped 28%.

Though BA.5 Omicron subvariant spreads worldwide, infections dropped to 4,999,812 with a daily average of 714,259 and passing 1 million the last time on April 13, according to tracking by Worldometers.info. On Jan. 21, the daily record was set at 3,839,998. The total passed 600 million at 600,830,865, including 553,726 Sunday and 628,620 Saturday when Japan added 253,265.

Fatalities in the past week were down to 14,197. That daily average is 2,028 with the recent low 1,297 on June 21, the fewest since 1,073 on March 21, 2020, 10 days after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The total is 6,471,847, including 946 Sunday and 1,316 Saturday. It was last under 1,000 on June 19 with 946.

Some nations do not report data on weekends. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't report data on Saturdays and Sundays.

Other case increases in the past week with more than 25,000 in descending order were Russia with a fourth-high 160,580 with a fourth-high 40%, Hong Kong 39,682 with 28% up.

South Korea reported the second most cases, 893,032 with a 5% gain, No. 3 United States 513,235 with a 30% decline, No. 4 Germany 272,836 with 11% fewer, No. 6 Taiwan 153,130 with 1% rise, No. 7 Italy 150,922 with 22% decrease, No. 8 France 122,486 with 21% lower, No. 9 Australia 122,486 with 26% decrease, No. 10 Brazil 114,894 with 25% drop.

Among nations reporting more than 100 deaths with big increases in the past week: No. 11 South Korea 414 with a 25% gain, Philippines 316 at 56%, Indonesia 157 at 25%, Hungary 117 at 46%.

Brazil had the third-most deaths with 1,080 but a 26% decline. No. 4 Germany 806 with a 4% drop, No. 5 Italy 677 with 26% lower, No. 6 Britain 533 with 46% drop, No. 7 Australia 492 with 9% decrease, No. 8 Iran 471 with a 2% increase, No. 9 France 437 with 9% fewer, No. 10 Russia 324 with 14% rise.

Every continent reported a weekly cases decrease for the second week in a row, led by two with 30%: North America cumulative 113,218,104 and South America 63,308,256 followed by Africa 22% for 12,588,262, Oceania 20% for 11,990,574, Europe 17% with a world-high 219,851,663, Asia 6% for 179,873,285.

Asia reported the only deaths increase for the second consecutive week with 4% for 1,460,307. Decreases were led by two with 25%; Europe a world-high 1,895,340 and North America 1,517,300 followed by South America 23% for 1,322,871, Oceania 10% for 18,729, Africa 3% for 257,285.

The U.S. leads with 1,065,569 fatalities and 95,345,858 infections, according to Worldometers.info. The U.S. holds the world record for daily cases at 909,397 on Jan. 13. Brazil is second in deaths at 682,587, including 27 Sunday and fourth in cases at 34,284,864, including 5,079 Sunday, the least since 3,809 April 24. India is second in cases at 44,339,429, including 11,539 Sunday and 8,813 Monday and 9,062 Tuesday, the last time under five digits since 7,891 June 14, and third in deaths at 527,332, including 43 Sunday.

India has the daily deaths record at 4,529 on May 18, 2021, with no adjustments from regions.

Russia is fourth in deaths at 383,560, including 64 Sunday with 34 22 days ago, tied for the least since April 16, 2020.