Thursday, November 12, 2009 JOHANNESBURG: A new species of dinosaur that roamed the Earth 197 million years ago, likely an ancestor of the enormous brontosaurus, has been discovered in South Africa, scientists said Wednesday.Dubbed Aardonyx Celestae, a combination of Afrikaans and Greek that means "Earth Claw", fossils of the seven-metre (23-feet) long dinosaur were uncovered in the central Free State province by a team of post-graduate students from Johannesburg's Witswatersrand University."We knew that there were likely to be some fossils in these bone beds... but we did not expect to find anything of this magnitude," said Adam Yates, the scientist who supervised the work.The Aardonyx appears to be ancestors of the massive sauropod dinosaurs, the largest backboned animals ever to walk on land, he said.The fossils from a partial skeleton unveiled Wednesday came from a young dinosaur, Yates said."Growth rings in the rib and shoulder blade sections show that Aardonyx was not full grown -- it was probably less than 10 years when it died near a river or stream," he said.Yates said the Aardonyx was a vegetarian, with a wide gaping mouth and a powerful back. Its claws measured about five centimetres (two inches) long, and it likely walked on two legs, but was strong enough to drop on all fours as well.The fossils will be put on display at the Transvaal Museum in the South African capital Pretoria.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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