Libya’s Col Muammar Gaddafi killed, says NTC

Libya’s ex-leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has been killed after an assault on his birthplace of Sirte, officials say.

Acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril announced the death, saying it was the moment Libya was waiting for.

Mr Jibril gave few details of how Col Gaddafi died, but video footage emerged showing him captured alive. Other images apparently showed him being dragged through the streets.

Some fighters claim to have shot him, though it is not clear when he died.

US President Barack Obama said it was a “momentous day” for Libya, now that tyranny had fallen.

He said Libya had a “long and winding road towards full democracy”, but the US and other countries would stand behind Tripoli.

Col Gaddafi was toppled from power in August after 42 years in charge of the country.

He was fighting his last stand in Sirte alongside two of his sons, Mutassim and Saif al-Islam, according to reports.

Acting Justice Minister Mohammad al-Alagi told the AP news agency Saif al-Islam had been captured and taken to hospital with a leg wound; other officials said Mutassim had been killed in battle on Thursday.

via BBC News – Libya’s Col Muammar Gaddafi killed, says NTC.

Claim: Hitler Died In Argentina, Nazi Leader Escaped Berlin In 1945

British journalist Gerrard Williams has told Sky News he and co-author Simon Dunstan found an “overwhelming amount of evidence” to suggest Hitler died an old man in South America.

Many historians say the Nazi leader died in his Berlin bunker in 1945 – but Williams claims their research, looking at newly de-classified documents and forensic tests, challenges this.

“We didn’t want to re-write history, but the evidence we’ve discovered about the escape of Adolf Hitler is just too overwhelming to ignore,” he said.

“There is no forensic evidence for his, or Eva Braun’s deaths, and the stories from the eyewitnesses to their continued survival in Argentina are compelling.”

Grey Wolf: The Escape Of Adolf Hitler claims the Fuhrer and his mistress Eva Braun were secretly flown out of Germany in April 1945 and taken to fascist-controlled Argentina.

It is alleged Hitler lived in the country for 17 years, initially raising his two daughters, until his death in 1962.

The book also accuses US intelligence of being complicit in the scam in return for access to Nazi war technology.

“Stalin, Eisenhower and Hoover of the FBI all knew there was no proof of him dying in the bunker,” Williams told Sky News.

“It’s difficult to understand why so much of the already published material we present in the book has been ignored over the years.”

He added that the book’s new findings prove the “Hitler” skull fragments held by the Russians are actually that of a young woman.

Williams said he and Dunstan conducted intensive field research in Argentina, including interviews with many eyewitnesses to Hitler’s presence there.

“It’s only now that Argentina is once more a thriving democracy that the real stories are beginning to come out,” he said.

“Even so, two of our eyewitnesses received death threats from persons unknown while working with us on this book.”

The film Grey Wolf is currently in production and is expected to be released in January.

via Hitler ‘Died In Argentina’, Book Claims: ‘Grey Wolf’ Author Says Nazi Leader Escaped Berlin In 1945 | World News | Sky News.

Mysterious bird deaths baffle hotel workers

The apparent death of 30-40 birds has workers at one Myrtle Beach hotel wondering what’s to blame.

Ocean Forest Resort Hotel Security Guard Brandon Nelson said between 30 and 40 birds of various breeds fell from the sky around 2 Sunday morning while he was patrolling the building.

“The birds were just landing with a plop, some of them chirped and squirmed for a few minutes before they died. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Nelson said.

Nelson’s mother, Sarah Allen, stopped at the hotel to visit her son during his shift when she says one of the birds hit her in the shoulder as it fell from the sky.

“I stepped out of my car and asked what was going on and no sooner had I asked when a bird hit my shoulder,” Allen said.

Ocean Forest Maintenance Worker Jimmie Livingston said birds die almost yearly around the Hotel, though not in such large numbers.

“Oh no, this isn’t the first time. And I think it’s going to keep happening too,” Livingston said.

Livingston said he thinks the birds may be colliding with hotel late at night when the poor visibility makes the building difficult to see, especially in the moonlight.

“They just confuse it for open air and they run into it,” Livingston said.

Myrtle Beach Police confirmed they did respond and investigate the incident, but did not have any further details at the time.

via Mysterious bird deaths baffle hotel workers – WIS News 10 – Columbia, South Carolina |.

Machine uses artificial vision to detect rotten oranges

A machine that uses artificial vision and UV rays to scan through citrus fruits and get rid of rotten ones has been developed in Spain.

Usually the inspection is done manually in dark rooms, also using UV light.

But this type of light can harm workers’ eyes and skin, so they must wear protective clothing and goggles.

The team from the Valencian Institute of Agrarian Research said that their technology could eliminate these risks.

The researchers describe the study in the journal Food and Bioprocess Technology.

Health risks

Detecting rotten citrus fruit is tricky, as interior decay is not visible to the naked eye.

That is why traditionally, workers use ultraviolet light – and when the essential oils of the decayed citrus rind react with UV rays, the fruits emit fluorescence.

But although there is usually a good chance that the oranges and mandarins that present spots of fluorescence turn out to be rotten, it is not always the case.

Fluorescence can be produced by defects other than decay, and thus workers often need to examine the fruit manually as well.

They must wear gloves and special goggles, and should not stay in the dark room too long. “The biological effect of UV rays is very bad for the health,” said Gregory Varennes of Roda Iberica, the company responsible for introducing the technology into the market. ..

via BBC News – Machine uses artificial vision to detect rotten oranges.

And the oranges are healthy to eat after being zapped with UV?

Man Allegedly Beat Woman with Frozen Armadillo

A man used a frozen armadillo to attack a 57-year old Pleasant Grove woman, Dallas police said.

The incident happened on Sept. 29 in an apartment complex parking lot.

According to investigators, the altercation occurred when the suspect was selling the carcass to the victim, who planned to eat the animal.

The pair apparently began arguing over the price of the item when the man twice threw the armadillo at the woman.

The animal first struck the woman in the leg and then in her chest.

She was reportedly bruised by the attack.

Detectives have been unable to find the man, who could face assault charges.

via Man Allegedly Beat Woman with Frozen Armadillo.

Air Force UFO Rules Vanish After Huffington Post Inquiry

The military deleted a passage about unidentified flying objects from a 2008 Air Force personnel manual just days after The Huffington Post asked Pentagon officials about the purpose of the UFO section.

Before the recent revisions, the document — Air Force Instruction 10-206 — advised pilots, radar operators and other Air Force personnel on what to do when they encountered any unknown airborne objects. Now in the 2011 version, the reference to UFOs — which simply means “unidentified flying objects,” not necessarily spaceships with little green men — has been eliminated.

What makes this so intriguing is that the U.S. government officially stopped investigating UFOs in 1969 with the termination of the Air Force’s Project Blue Book.

The 22-year study, led by high-level military officials and academic experts, ruled that UFOs weren’t extraterrestrial visitors, nor were they technologically advanced aircraft, nor were they a threat to national security.

With that, the military essentially shut the book on flying saucer research, concluding that “nothing has occurred that would support a resumption of UFO investigation by the Air Force.”

“The reason why the military is claiming they don’t investigate UFOs is because they don’t want to respond to people like you,” former Air Force Captain Robert Salas told The Huffington Post.

“They don’t want to respond to reporters or to the public as to what the heck is going on, and it’s been going on for so long. They just don’t want to have to answer that question.”

Yet more than 40 years after the close of Project Blue Book, there were still written orders on what Air Force personnel should do in the event they spotted a flying vehicle that couldn’t be identified. …

via Air Force UFO Rules Vanish After Huffington Post Inquiry.

Great, so now any country can invent a strange and possibly dangerous aircraft and pilots won’t know what to do?

Long-Married Couple Gordon Yeager And Norma Yeager Die Holding Hands

For one Iowa couple, true love lasted until the very end.

Married 72 years, Norma, 90, and Gordon Yeager, 94, died in the hospital holding hands last week, one hour apart.

The couple was hospitalized after a car accident just outside of Marshalltown, Iowa. They were given a shared room in the ICU where they held hands in adjacent beds.

At 3:38 pm last Wednesday, Gordon’s breathing stopped. Though he was no longer alive, his heart monitor continued to register a beat.

The nurse told Gordon and Norma’s son, Dennis Yeager, that the monitor was beeping “because they’re holding hands, and [Norma's heart beat] is going through them,” Dennis recalled in an interview with Des Moines’ KCCI news station. “Her heart was beating through him.”

Norma died at 4:38 pm, exactly one hour later.

Gordon and Norma’s children say they’re glad the couple passed this way. “They just loved being together,” says Dennis. “He always said, ‘I can’t go until she does because I gotta stay here for her.’ And she would say the same thing.” …

via Long-Married Couple Gordon Yeager And Norma Yeager Die Holding Hands.

New planet, the youngest ever found, is revealed by cosmic trick photography

Photograph: Kraus and IrelandA University of Hawaii astronomer has captured the first direct image of a planet forming around a star. Dubbed LkCa 15 b, it is the youngest planet ever found.

US and Australian astronomers cancel out light from solar cloud to reveal new planet LkCa 15 b forming in swirl of stardustLeft, the shining dust and gas cloud around the star LkCa 15. Right, an expanded view of the central region, showing the forming planet and the position of the central star.

The university’s Institute for Astronomy said Adam Kraus used telescopes on Mauna Kea island to find the planet. He was working with Michael Ireland from Macquarie University and the Australian Astronomical Observatory.

LkCa 15 b is 450 light years away from Earth and being built by dust and gas.Scientists had not been able to see such young planets before because their parent solar systems’ light outshines them.

Krause and Ireland used mirrors to cancel out the starlight and were able to see discs of dust near the planet.

The astronomers used 10-metre Keck telescopes to reveal the forming planet sitting inside a wide gap between the young parent star and the outer disc of glowing dust. …

via New planet, the youngest ever found, is revealed by cosmic trick photography | Science | guardian.co.uk.