‘Giant serpent’ invades island near Phuket

PHUKET: Mysterious giant tracks appeared overnight on Friday (December 14) on Koh Mai Pai (Bamboo Island, just north of Phi Phi), emerging from the forest, going through the local school and then into the sea, leaving students, parents and teachers worrying that they were made by some enormous serpent.

The tracks consisted of a long line of pairs of circles, each circle 20 centimetres in diameter. Local experts estimated that the serpent that made the tracks must be at least 15 metres long.

Pannee Atwaree, a teacher at the school, said that the islanders’ fear was ratcheted up by theories that the appearance of the tracks might be an omen of the great disaster some have been predicting for next Friday (December 21) when the Mayan calendar – and possibiy the world – comes to an end.

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Mayan apocalypse: Turkish village becomes latest doomsday hotspot

A Turkish village has become the latest apocalypse hotspot, with believers of the Mayan calendar prediction that the world will end on December 21 flooding into the area.

Some New Age spiritualists are convinced of a December 21 "doomsday" foretold by Mayan hieroglyphs – at least according to some interpretations.

Sirince, a village of around 600 inhabitants near the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, has a positive energy according to the doomsday cultists, who say that it is close to an area where Christians believe the Virgin Mary ascended to heaven.

The Mayan prophecy has sparked a tourism boom in the village, which is now expected to host more than 60,000 visitors according to local media.

"It is the first time we witness such an interest during the winter season," said Ilkan Gulgun, one of the hotel owners in Sirince, quoted by the media.

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Does Psy's 'Gangnam Style' fulfill a Nostradamus Doomsday 2012 prophesy?

As December 21, 2012 draws near, many believers in the "Doomsday" scenario look to an old friend for guidance: Nostradamus.

And one video on YouTube claims to have found evidence that the world's most famous seer knew just what omen would signify the end of the world. That's right. It's PSY's "Gangnam Style" video which has broken all-time records for viewing.

According to an article posted to Blogger on Monday, December 10, the worldwide phenomenon triggered by the video fulfills one of Nostradamus' quatrain prophesies about the apocalypse scheduled to occur on the winter solstice.

"From the calm morning, the end will come, when of the dancing horse, the number of circles will be nine."

As usual, the quatrain is deliberately vague and open to interpretation.

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Japanese Navy Releases First Photo Of Downed UFO Off The Coast Of Okinawa

OKINAWA, JAPAN- Japanese Navy officials have released the first ever photo of the UFO that crashed off the coast of Okinawa yesterday. The photo appears grainy and somewhat unclear since the vessel is submerged underwater but clearly shows a power source still glowing brightly atop the aircraft’s dome.

“We wanted to release this photo to the world and confirm the reports issued yesterday,” said Japanese Navy spokesman Yoshido Hari. “This picture will give credence to what some of our citizens living on Okinawa witnessed yesterday. We clearly still have many days of salvaging ahead of us but we will take our time and bring the aircraft up in one piece. We must preserve the object as much as possible.”

Numerous reports began to circulate around the globe yesterday about a possible UFO crash off the coast of Okinawa. Many people, including the mainstream media, believed the reports to be false or an elaborate prank. The picture snapped by Japanese Navy divers will put those thoughts of falsity to rest.

“This is not a joke,” said Hari, speaking candidly to reporters. “We have clear evidence at the bottom of the ocean that indicates UFO presence. What the world once thought virtually impossible is now a reality. It is up to us to preserve that reality in order to study the structure of the vessel and perhaps even the alien lifeforms inhabiting it.”

Several scientists from the United States have already been dispatched by the U.S. government and will arrive in Tokyo sometime today. It is unclear, however, if the vessel will be moved to the capital city for further study and research or if it will remain housed in a hangar on Okinawa.

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Villagers mystified by strange animal

SERIAN: An Indonesian plantation worker and a 75-year-old farmer got the shock of their lives when they were attacked by an unknown animal species in two separate occasions earlier this month. The farmer, Aris Kuna of Kampung Paon Gahat, was attacked by the rare animal while attending to his pepper garden about noon. The foreigner, however, was attacked a week later at a plantation near Kpg Baing while gathering oil palm fresh fruit bunches around 9am. The animal that attacked the duo was described as having a ‘bear and wild boar’ resemblance. Fellow workers and villagers who saw the carcass, brought by the Indonesian, could not identify the animal species. “It’s a rare species. None of the villagers could identify it when we saw the body and pictures of it. Some even took to the Internet to find out but to no avail. Could it be one of those already considered extinct? “In all my life venturing into the jungle, hunting and such, I’ve never come across this species,” 62-year-old Louis Nyaoi said when met at his house in Kpg Mentung Marau, some 50km from here yesterday. His son Jimmy Tubo, 27, believed that the rare animal could have reappeared due to the opening of the nearby jungle for agriculture and other developments. When relating the ordeal of the foreign worker, Jimmy said the Indonesian had claimed that the animal gave a strange noise, firstly sounding like a hen followed by a wild boar sound, before proceeding to attack. The victim alleged that the animal stood up on its hind legs when charging at him. He immediately swung his sickle, killing the animal instantly. Jimmy, who works with the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) added that the animal which attacked the Indonesian measured two feet long. [Click here to read full article]

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Mysterious object scares villagers

DADU, Nov 29: Fear and bewilderment overtook some parts of Dadu district after some mysterious objects fell on a number of villages late on Wednesday night. The biggest fragment weighing 187 kilograms fell on a ground in Allah Jurio Lund village, 30 kilometres from Dadu. Other pieces fell on Pir Mashaikh, Shehak Rodnani and Khandhani villages. There were no injuries or damage to property. (According to news agencies, military authorities took possession of the “heavy pieces of engine and other metallic objects, believed to be splinters of a satellite or missile”. An Army team, headed by Commanding Officer of Hyderabad, Col. Mushtaque, arrived in Dadu on Thursday and started investigation after taking two pieces of the object). Sain Bux Loond, a villager, told journalists that he was at his home when a loud bang drew him outside. “First I couldn’t make head or tail of the scene before my eyes. After gathering my wits I dashed to the police station and told them what I had seen,” Loond said. [Click here to read full article]

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‘Sorcerer’ who believed his tattoos made him invincible arrested in Thailand

A “sorcerer” tattooist has been arrested in northeastern Thailand after several brawls involving his disciples who believed his body art made them invincible, police said Tuesday. Boonyong Luangjumpol was held for possession of guns after officers raided his home following a spate of fights in the province of Kalasin, local police chief Major General Kanisorn Noinard told AFP. He said the 29-year-old was renowned in the area for creating love potions, as well as his sideline in tattoos which teenage followers believed could protect them from gunshot or knife wounds. “Police arrested the teenagers and asked them why they fought. They said they were tattooed because they believed it would make them invincible and wanted to test whether it works or not… they used sticks and knives, but guns are rarely seen in the brawls,” Kanisorn said. When asked if the fights had injured any of the followers, he said “every single one” was hurt. Police decided to conduct the raid because of the links to the brawls, which tended to occur after Buddhist festivals, Kanisorn added. They found several guns and machetes at Boonyong’s home, he said. [Click here to read full article]

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North Korea: Researchers Find 'Unicorn Lair'

The world is stunned by the totalitarian state's declaration that experts have found the spot where an ancient king kept unicorn. North Korea has raised eyebrows around the world by announcing that researchers have proved the existence of the unicorn. The official state news agency says archaeologists "reconfirmed" the existence of a "unicorn lair" in Pyongyang, once used by an ancient Korean king. The Korean Central News Agency reports that archaeologists made the extraordinary discovery when they spotted a rectangular rock carved with the words "unicorn lair" 200m from the city's Yongmyong temple. The report quotes Jo Hui Sung, director of North Korea's history institute, explaining how the find tallies with information in history books from the 16th century. He says: "Korea's history books deal with the unicorn, considered to be ridden by King Tongmyong, and its lair. "The temple served as a relief palace for King Tongmyong, in which there is the lair of his unicorn." [Click here to read full article]

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Shutterbugs rush to capture giant halo and ‘UFO’

PETALING JAYA: Two phenomena involving the sun had Klang Valley and Johor folk snapping away to capture the moment. The strange sight of a halo circling the sun became a talking point here as many were seen using their handphones to capture the spectacle at about 12.30pm yesterday. The National Space Agency (Angkasa), however, gave assurance that the phenomenon was not something to be alarmed about. The “rainbow-around-the-sun” effect occurs naturally when light interacts with ice crystals in cirrus clouds in the upper troposphere. The crystals act like prisms, refracting and reflecting sunlight to produce a rainbow-coloured effect around the sun. However, the agency advised people not to stare directly into the sun to protect their eyesight. [Click here to read full article]

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Decomposed Body @ Bedok Reservoir

Deaths seems to be taking place one after another. Bedok Reservoir, a place where people just seem to always die that , this topic did not subside but resurface again, recently with another recent death.  

================================= Decomposed body found at Bedok Reservoir

Updated 11:50 AM Sep 02, 2012

SINGAPORE - A decomposed body was found at the Bedok Reservoir this morning.

A caller to the MediaCorp hotline said he discovered the body at about 7am when he was doing his morning exercise.

Police received a call at 6.52am requesting for assistance at Bedok Reservoir. They found a man floating in the reservoir when they arrived on the scene.

Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene at around 7.25am.

The man is believed to be Chinese and in his 30s.

The death is the eighth reported case in the reservoir since June 2011, reported Channel NewsAsia. The most recent case was reported in January this year.

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UK 'X-Files' reveal UFO sighting over Chelsea stadium

LONDON - Britain on Thursday released an archive of "X-Files" detailing government UFO briefings and probes into unexplained sightings, including one above Chelsea football club.

The 25 files released by The National Archives include "a lengthy briefing on UFO policy to then prime minister Tony Blair's office" along with a job description for the post of UFO desk officer, described as the "weirdest job in Whitehall."

According to an employee of the UFO desk, which closed in 2009, the perception that it consisted of "top secret teams of specialist scientists scurrying around the country in a real life version of the X-Files" was "total fiction."

Instead, daily duties included providing briefings on the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) position on UFOs, undertaking UFO investigations, handling Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) and managing UFOlogists (UFO "experts").

Among the stranger investigations included one into a UFO sighting by a police officer at Chelsea football club and another into a visit by three "men in black" to a person who reported a UFO encounter in Lincolnshire, east England.

According to the files, a hotel owner in Wales once complained to her MP after a UFO landed in a field "from which two tall silver-suited 'faceless humanoids' emerged and began "making measurements'."

Also included in the files are details of a 1995 briefing by one of the MoD's UFO intelligence officers which speculated on why aliens would visit earth.

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Arrested for idol worship

A Sri Lankan youth employed as a domestic aid has been arrested in Saudi Arabia for worshiping a statue of the Buddha, which is considered an offence according to Shariah law.

According to the Bodu Bala Senaa, the youth bearing passport no. 2353715 identified as Premanath Pereralage Thungasiri has been arrested by Umulmahami Police, which is a grave situation.

The organisation states that information has been received regarding a plan that is underway to behead a Sri Lankan youth employed in domestic service in Saudi Arabia. Although a complaint has been lodged at the Foreign Employment Bureau, Battaramulla, under complaint no: CN/158/1205, so far no action has been taken.

While the youth is a Buddhist, the charge levelled against him is that he paid obeisance to the Buddha at the house where he was employed.

The Bodu Bala Senaa organisation further said those employed in Muslim countries are prevented from practicing their religious faiths, and if found to do so are punished severely. Recently a Sri Lankan woman was arrested for gazing at a child at a shopping complex, where she was accused of witchcraft, on the grounds that she had a black cord around her wrist.

However, the organisation accused the Foreign Employment Bureau officials of not educating the Sri Lankan workers travelling to Saudi Arabia regarding the laws in those countries pertaining to religious rights. Therefore, many of our migrant workers in Saudi Arabia face these situations due to their ignorance of the prevailing laws of those countries.

On prior occasions too many Sri Lankan female domestic workers were forced to embrace Islam, and wear the traditional attire, while so far four Sri Lankan youth have been beheaded in that country.

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Quest to find Chinese Bigfoot begins

A team of researchers will take an expedition to the Shennongjia forest of China’s central Hubei province, a forbidding 1,000 square mile reserve of high mountains and deep forests, to find evidence of the “Wild Man”.

For centuries, the villagers around the Shennongjia reserve have believed that the “Wild Man”, or Yeren, lives among them.

Standing just under seven feet tall (2.15 metres) and covered in dark grey hair, this Chinese incarnation of Bigfoot or the yeti has been spotted hundreds of times, the Age reported.

Size 12 primate-like footprints have been documented in the area, and long thick strands of hair have been tested by scientists, who concluded that they did not belong to any of the known creatures inside the reserve.

But no one has ever proven its existence.

This weekend, the team of 38 researchers drawn from several Chinese universities and research institutes will fan out across the Shennongjia reserve on an expedition to catalogue the region’s unique ecosystem.

Their trip will continue throughout August, and the researchers will collect data on some 1000 different types of animals that live in Shennongjia, including the golden snub-nosed monkey and a white-furred bear that is found only in the reserve.

If the researchers manage to uncover concrete evidence of the Wild Man, they will have succeeded where two previous major expeditions - one from 1974 to 1981 and one in 2010 - failed.

“I simply want to put an end to the argument that it exists,” said Wang Shancai, of the Hubei Relics and Archaeology Institute, when he set out in 2010.

In 2005, Zhang Jiahong, a shepherd in Muyu, near the forest, told state media he had seen two of the creatures, with “hairy faces, eyes like black holes, prominent noses and dishevelled hair, with faces that resembled both a man’s and a monkey’s".

Another explorer, Zhang Jinxing, spent years living as a hermit in the Shennongjia forest, and said he had seen footprints on 19 separate occasions, without ever finding the beast.

However, Zhou Guoxing, a former director of the Beijing Museum of Natural History and a paleontologist, has cast doubt on the idea that there may be a Chinese Bigfoot.

“There is no Wild Man in this world. I’ve visited every place where the Wild Man was reported in China. I’ve studied everything related to the Wild Man including hair, skulls and specimens. All of them are dyed human hair or come from monkeys and bears,” he said earlier this year.

He added that the local government in Hubei was simply trying to drum up tourist revenue.

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Morning shower paints rural Kannur red

KANNUR: Though not for first time in the state, red rain in parts of Kannur on Thursday did create some panic and curiosity among the residents in the district. The strange phenomenon happened around 6:50am and lasted for 15 minutes. People in the 1km area in and around Edachery in Puzhati panchayat panicked as their courtyards turned blood red after rain.

Kannur block panchayat president Shaija M, who collected the sample of the rainwater, said the water was as dark as black coffee and had the smell of raw beetroot. "I thought someone killed some animal and its blood got mixed with water on the courtyard," she said. Akshay Sajeevan, another resident in the locality, said in his compound the colour of rainwater was a bit lighter. According to meteorological department, though red rain is a rare phenomenon, but it is no way harmful. "I assume this is due to atmospheric pollution. The pollutants in the air get dissolved in rainwater resulting in red rain," said M Santhosh, director of meteorological department, Thiruvananthapuram.

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Maya Archaeologists Unearth New 2012 Monument With 'End Date' of Dec. 21, 2012

Archaeologists working at the site of La Corona in Guatemala have discovered a 1,300-year-old-year Maya text that provides only the second known reference to the so-called "end date" of the Maya calendar, December 21, 2012. The discovery, one of the most significant hieroglyphic finds in decades, was announced June 28 at the National Palace in Guatemala.

"This text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy," says Marcello A. Canuto, director of Tulane's Middle American Research Institute and co-director of the excavations at La Corona.

Since 2008, Canuto and Tomás Barrientos of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala have directed excavations at La Corona, a site previously ravaged by looters.

"Last year, we realized that looters of a particular building had discarded some carved stones because they were too eroded to sell on the antiquities black market," said Barrientos, "so we knew they found something important, but we also thought they might have missed something."

What Canuto and Barrientos found was the longest text ever discovered in Guatemala. Carved on staircase steps, it records 200 years of La Corona history, states David Stuart, director of the Mesoamerica Center at The University of Texas at Austin, who was part of a 1997 expedition that first explored the site.

While deciphering these new finds in May, Stuart recognized the 2012 reference on a stairway block bearing 56 delicately carved hieroglyphs. It commemorated a royal visit to La Corona in AD 696 by the most powerful Maya ruler of that time, Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' of Calakmul, only a few months after his defeat by long-standing rival Tikal in AD 695. Thought by scholars to have been killed in this battle, this ruler was visiting allies and allaying their fears after his defeat.

"This was a time of great political turmoil in the Maya region and this king felt compelled to allude to a larger cycle of time that happens to end in 2012," says Stuart.

So, rather than prophesy, the 2012 reference places this king's troubled reign and accomplishments into a larger cosmological framework.

"In times of crisis, the ancient Maya used their calendar to promote continuity and stability rather than predict apocalypse," says Canuto.

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Mysterious Poisonous Spiders Invade Indian Town

Swarms of never-before-seen spiders descended upon a cultural festival in the northeastern Indian town of Sadiya last month, biting several people and leaving two dead. The arachnid “invasion,” as the Times of India called it, caused a panic among festival-goers who reportedly jostled one another and tripped over benches in an effort to escape the venomous spiders.

Scientists from Dibrugarh University and Gauhati University have not been able to identify the spiders, which resemble tarantulas but may be a new species altogether. Ratul Rajkhowa, a professor of zoology at Cotton College in the city of Guwahati, told the Times that the spiders could be black wishbones, a species native to Southern Australia. If that’s the case, the spiders’ venom would not be deadly but could, in some individuals, cause severe allergic reactions that may result in death. The individuals who died after being bitten by the mysterious spiders were reportedly cremated before autopsies could be performed, and scientists have yet to test the toxicity of the spiders’ venom.

The sudden infestation nevertheless remains a concern for both scientists and Sadiya residents, as venomous spiders are not native to India’s Assam region, where the attacks occurred.

British naturalist Vejay K. Singh told the Times that, while swarms of spiders are rare, ”a certain anomaly in conditions may provoke an unusual surge in breeding populations…usually after flooding when the spiders search for dry and higher ground.” Post-flood spider swarms in Australia last March left farmlands blanketed in spiderwebs, while in Pakistan millions of spiders enveloped trees following last year’s devastating floods.

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Woman, 63, 'becomes PREGNANT in the mouth' with baby squid after eating calamari

A 63-year-old woman became 'pregnant' with 12 baby squid after eating calamari, according to a claim in a bio-tech report.

The real-life 'octo-mum', from South Korea, was eating a portion of cooked whole squid when she felt a sharp pain in her mouth.

The bizarre claim has been made in a scientific paper from the National Center for Biotechnology Information in Bethesda, Maryland.

The lady told doctors that she could feel something in her mouth which they described as 'bug-like organisms'.

When examined, the doctors found 'baby cephalopods' attached to her mouth. These are small pods, covered in a cement-like material to make them stick.

Inside the pods is an 'ejaculatory apparatus' and sperm - with the apparatus expelling the sperm quite forcefully.

After the victim of the 'attack' was hospitalised, doctors removed the baby cephalopods from her gums, tongue and cheek. It was only then that the pods were formally identified as 'squid spermatophores.'

The Center's paper says: 'She did not swallow the portion, but spat it out immediately. She complained of a pricking and foreign-body sensation in the oral cavity.

'Twelve small, white spindle-shaped, bug-like organisms stuck in the mucous membrane of the tongue, cheek, and gingiva [gums] were completely removed, along with the affected mucosa.

'On the basis of their morphology and the presence of the sperm bag, the foreign bodies were identified as squid spermatophores.'

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Spacecraft Or Forage: What's Killing The Saiga Antelope?

Did a Soyuz spacecraft cause the deaths of hundreds of endangered saiga antelope in Kazakhstan this week?

Some ecologists think so, although scientists and the Kazakh authorities remain skeptical.

Officials say the carcasses of at least 543 saiga antelope have been found in northern Kazakhstan's Qostanai region since May 21, the latest reported mass death of the critically endangered animal.

And the fact that some 120 of the carcasses were discovered near the village of Sorsha -- the same location where a Soyuz capsule carrying a Russian-American crew from the International Space Station landed in April -- has sparked suggestions the animals may have been poisoned by chemicals left behind by the craft.

Likewise, in an interview with RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, ecologist Musagali Duambekov suggested that the mass deaths could be connected to the Baikonur space-launch site in central Kazakhstan.

"My personal opinion is that it is connected with human activity [and] that it is due to an anthropogenic factor," he said. "It could be from chemical elements left from space rockets that fly over this place, or from other chemical factors, such as the extensive use of fertilizers, which are very harmful."

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Indian believers swallow live fish to cure asthma

HYDERABAD (AP)- Tens of thousands of asthma-sufferers have mobbed a southern Indian stadium to swallow live sardines smeared with a yellow herbal paste they believe will cure their breathing problems.


Photo: Associated Press

Despite doctors' criticism, the Goud family has drawn throngs of people for years with its secret fish and herbal formula it says it received from a Hindu saint about 170 years ago.

Hyderabad police say a man died of a heart attack and several others sought medical attention for breathing difficulty after waiting for hours. Police say the stadium was unprepared to deal with the 70,000 people who rushed the gates on Friday.

The family offers the treatment annually on a day chosen by astrologers.

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Chinese Buddhists 'cause plague of serpents'

For a group of Chinese Buddhists, releasing a thousand snakes from captivity into the wild was a compassionate act that would bring them good karma. But for the small nearby village of Miao Erdong, it resulted in a plague of serpents.

The 50 members of the "Let Blessings and Wisdom Grow" Buddhist group left Beijing in a nine vehicle convoy last Friday, driving for half a day with their cargo of snakes into the countryside of Hebei province.

Once they reached their destination, they chanted a ritual and released the snakes. However, they were soon spotted by a man from Miao Erdong who alerted the rest of the village.

The police were called, and quickly impounded three of the group's vehicles, as the snakes slithered into the undergrowth. Li Guohua, the head of the village committee, said snakes were soon spotted inside some of their homes.

"There is one girl in our village who has Down's syndrome and her parents are now scared of leaving her by herself in the house," he said. "I do not mind Buddhists releasing animals, but they should not disturb us," he added.

The practice of "Fang Sheng", or compassionate release, has been a Buddhist tradition in China for thousands of years, stemming from the teaching that it is possible to improve your karmic balance by doing good deeds to animals.

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