State of emergency declared after NZ quake

A state of emergency had been declared by Christchurch mayor Bob Parker following the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that happened in New Zealand at 12:51, in a report by NZ Herald.

Eyewitness saw a score of dead bodies lying on the streets although official reports of casualties are not yet available.

Study says Gulf bottom dead, oil still present

Ten months after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred, a scientist showed evidence that oil remains in the ocean floor killing many life forms, in a report by AP.

Presenting the slides and videos of her five deep water expeditions in a Washington science conference, University of Georgia's marine scientist Samantha Joye found that the oil and residue were not consumed by microorganisms designed to degrade the oil.

Helmets to be banned in Bicutan

Motorcycle riders will soon need not wear helmets once the resolution filed by a representative of the Barangay (Village) Western Bicutan, south of Metro Manila, that will ban its use were approved by village leaders, according to a report by the Manila Bulletin.

The helmet ban was proposed in the area in order to curb the rising crime.

Watch Live: Egyptian President Mubarak Expected to Address the Nation

Large Crowd Gathers in Cairo's Tahrir Square as Night Falls

Source: PBS News Hour

Cash to cut the cat population

Several weeks ago, I reported a Chinese city using cash to improve people's behavior in maintaining cleanliness by paying for each cigarette butt collected. A few weeks ago, there was a report in Allvoices that a city in Bangladesh will pay the pauper to stay away in the capital city during the World Cricket Cup in March.

This report tells of a similar story that--within limits--money is a good motivator to change people's behavior.

How is rabies transmitted?

To understand how rabies is transmitted or spread from animals to humans and animals to animals, it is important to know what rabies is and how it causes the disease.

Rabies is a deadly disease that is caused by viruses most commonly through bites from the saliva of infected animal hosts. Viruses are small microorganisms that are smaller than bacteria. They grow and multiply inside a living cell. Once the virus enters the body, they travel to the brain, infect it, resulting to a gamut of symptoms that will inevitably lead to death within days once the disease manifests.

10 killed, 33 injured in German train collision

The BBC reported that at least 10 had been killed and 33 people were hurt when a regional passenger train and a freight train clashed in the eastern part of Germany on Saturday 22:30 local time.

The reason why the two trains crashed near the city of Magdeburg in the Saxony-Anhalt state was not immediately clear.

Nelson Mandela recuperating from collapsed lung

An unnamed source close to former South African President Nelson Mandela told Reuters on Thursday that the 92-year-old icon is recuperating from a collapsed lung and could be released by Friday, News24 said on 27 January.

However, with the news blackout, the public is worried plus the fact that many high-profile people were seen visiting the anti-Apartheid leader from the time he was admitted at Johannesburg's Milpark Hospital on Wednesday.

Germany stops donations to fraud-plagued Global Health Fund

Germany will suspend its pledge of $270 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria after a full investigation of fraud allegations in two stories by the The Associated Press on Sunday and Monday, the Monterey County Herald said.

According to an AP report on Sunday, huge sums of contract money goes down the drain to corruption.

Grandma, you've got horns!

Zhang Ruifang is a 101-year-old grandmother of Linlou Village in Henan province of China.

Family members did not much pay attention to the skin outgrowth in her left forehead when it appeared in 2009, according to her youngest son, 60-year-old Zhang Guozheng.