Sunday, December 13, 2009 ORISSA: Orissa police seized 96 turtles, which were being smuggled out of the country, and arrested one in this regard in the late hours on Friday.The illegal consignment was being taken in a vehicle to West Bengal’s Midnapore East district. Police officials said that they intercepted the vehicle on a tip-off.“Total 96 tortoises were kept in the bag. We seized the turtles and arrest one person in this connection. We informed the forest officials regarding this. Later forest officials came and seized the turtles and the detained person named Durgashankar Maan for further legal action,” said Amulya Kumar Champatiray, Inspector-in-charge of Pipili Police Station.Besides slaughtering for meat, the species, protected under India’s wildlife act, are also used in the formulation of certain traditional medicines.India has banned their trade under the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act, but the huge profit margin and lax laws increasingly lure poachers to the trade.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
Comments