Colin the baby whale euthanized in Sydney...

An injured and abandoned baby humpback whale was euthanized by wildlife officials Friday after veterinarians determined that it was too weak to survive on its own. The lost humpback whale calf swims north of Sydney Harbour in Australia on Wednesday. The 4.5-yard (4.5-meter)-long animal was guided close to the shore and could be seen thrashing underwater. Officials reached out to stroke the calf before others hoisted it onto a tarp. The whale was then pulled into a tent on the beach, and gray tarps were hung to cover the operation.

Sally Barnes, deputy director-general of the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change, said the whale would be given a sedative to relax it and then a lethal dose of anesthetic. Eight maritime police boats patrolled the waters to keep the public and media from approaching. The plight of the whale calf, which Australians have named Colin, has dominated news coverage since Sunday, when it was first sighted and began trying to suckle from boats it apparently mistook for its mother. Officials believe that the 1- to 2-month-old calf was abandoned by its mother, possibly because it was ill. Wildlife officials said it appeared that the whale had also been attacked by a shark. It spent days among the yachts and other boats in the waters off north Sydney, swimming back to the boats each time officials lured it out to sea in the hope it would attach to a passing pod of humpback whales.

On Thursday, veterinarians and marine researchers who examined the whale found that its condition was getting worse and that euthanizing it was the most humane option. Officials had sought national and international advice on how to help the lost whale but that its condition had become too poor to treat. Some Australians have accused wildlife officials of not doing enough to help the calf and not trying to feed it. A few people designed feeding mechanisms, many gave advice, and some journeyed to Pittwater Inlet just to watch the lonely calf. On Thursday, Aboriginal whale whisperer Bunna Lawrie tried to soothe the listless animal. Adorned with feathers on his head and white paint markings on his face, Lawrie reached into the water to stroke Colin while singing a humming, tongue-rolling tune. But after a few minutes, the whale swam away to nuzzle a nearby yacht.

The humpbacks are on the return leg of an epic annual round trip from the Antarctic to tropical waters to breed, and they can be seen ploughing homewards not far off Sydney's beaches on most days. Experts say that the passing whales and Colin would have been able to communicate, but that the chance of him being adopted was always extremely slim. [End of report]

I know that it is a very sad news to hear. I am a huge animal lover, so I dont like it whenever I hear stories such as this. It is really sad that the whale had to be killed. I dont care what method they use to kill it, but I just feel very sad for the whale. I understand though the decision that the local authorities had to make. I dont think it was easy for them to come to the decision to have it euthanized. It was really weak and it was really in a lot of suffering, but my question now is that I am interested to know whether the authorities could have done more to ensure its survival. I did some research on humpback whale and I found out that the species will only feed rarely and opportunistically while in their wintering waters. It is an energetic feeder, taking krill and small schooling fish. Im sure the authorities could have feed the whale with those foods, but I am not sure why they have decided not to do so. They did however tried to reunite it with passing pods of humpback whales and even called the help of the army to help float Colin back out to sea, but unfortunately, it was to no avail. It was particularly important that the whale be reunited with its mother because it needed the daily 230 litres of mothers' milk which it would normally consume to survive.

That is why the authorities decided to euthanize the whale, saying that it was too weak to survive on its own. In my opinion, they should release the whale back into the ocean and let fate decides what is going to happen to it, instead of killing it. There might be some chance that it will be reunited with its mother or other pods of humpback but of course there is the danger that it will be harm by other creatures such as the sharks and that it will be too weak to defend for itself. Nevertheless, what is done cannot be undone and we have to live with the fact that Colin is no longer alive. The only positive thing that I could take from the experience is that at least it is not suffering anymore. I think at the same time, the whale was really fortunate to end up in Australia because if it had been seen in Japan, it would be dead a long time ago, because as you know, the Japanese people love to kill the whales for delicacies purposes. And sadly to say, the humpback whale, just like other large whale species still continues to be hunted for the whaling industry till today despite many calls to stop it.

I just hope that someday in the future, the hunting of the whales will be stop entirely because they are such a beautiful creature which deserve to live peacefully in the oceans. Humans are contributing to the declining population of the whales and I think it is about time that we stop doing so. The humpback whales for example is considered as an endangered species. Other factors that might contribute to the declining population of whales includes high seas driftnets, pollution and degradation of their habitat, all of which are cause by us humans too. So let us all work together to ensure the survival of the beautiful creature and make sure that it dont end up in the endangered list forever. As for Colin the baby humpback whale, I hope it is doing fine wherever he might be right now.

*The report was taken from Associated Press.

Fiery plane crash at Madrid airport kills 153...

A jetliner heading to the popular Canary Islands vacation resort crashed during takeoff Wednesday, turning a wooded area off the end of a runway into a hellish scene of charred bodies and smoldering wreckage. Some 153 were believed dead — Spain's worst air disaster in nearly 25 years. Only 19 people survived the midafternoon crash of the Spanair MD-82 at Madrid's Barajas International Airport, and some were in critical condition, said Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez, whose department oversees civil aviation in Spain.

The airline didn't release a death toll, but said the plane carried 172 crew members and passengers, including two babies and 20 youngsters. There was no word on how many children died. As smoke billowed from the wreckage, dozens of fire trucks and ambulances rushed to help, lining a nearby road and filling a field next to a swath of charred vegetation. Helicopters flew over dumping water on fires. Rescuers rushed the few survivors to hospitals, while emergency workers shrouded the dead in white sheets. One body lay on burned grass, an arm and a leg poking out. Later, a long convoy of black hearses rolled onto the airport grounds to carry bodies to a makeshift morgue set up at Madrid's main convention center — the facility used for relatives to identify bodies after the 2004 Islamic terror bombings that killed 191 people on Madrid commuter trains. Spanair, a Spanish company wholly owned by Scandinavian Airlines, said it did not know what caused the accident. Alvarez said investigators ruled out foul play and considered the crash an accident. She said the plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been recovered.

While preparing for a first takeoff attempt, the plane's pilot reported a breakdown in a gauge that measures temperature outside the plane. The gauge was fixed, delaying the departure, said Spanair spokeswoman Susana Vergara. It was on the second takeoff attempt that the plane crashed. The accident was Spain's worst air disaster since 1983, when a Boeing 747 operated by the Colombian airline Avianca crashed near Madrid on landing approach, killing 181 people. In 1985, an Iberia Boeing 727 crashed near Bilbao in the Basque region, killing 148 people. The deadliest disaster in aviation history occurred in Spain in 1977. Two fully loaded Boeing 747s collided on a runway in the Canary Islands and a total of 583 people died. Sergio Allard, a Spanair spokesman, said the crashed plane passed an inspection in January and no problems had been reported since then. The plane was 15 years old and has been owned by Spanair the past nine, he said. But it has had a number of fatal accidents, the deadliest of which was a crash of Slovenia's Adria Airways flight in Corsica in 1981, when all 180 people on board perished.

Spanair has a fleet of more than 60 aircraft and runs around 600 flights daily. Crashes during takeoff or landing are some of the most common aviation accidents. In July 2007, 199 people were killed in Brazil's worst air disaster when an Airbus A320 belonging to TAM airlines skidded off the runway at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport and smashed across a road into a gas station and an air cargo building. Five people died and 65 were injured May 30 when an A320 belonging to Grupo Taca skidded off the end of the runway at Toncontin International Airport near the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. [End of report]

It is such a tragic news. I dont like it when I hear any aviation related accidents, especially when there are many casualties. 153 people dead, that is a big number and what is even sadder is that there were two babies on board. Now I dont know if they are among the 19 survivors, but it is terrible to hear the news. I hope they are among the survivors, that would be a huge miracle, but even so the impact of the crash was huge that they would probably be in a critical condition. I think as long as they had survive the crash, there is still some hope that they would live on but right now the details are sketchy and it is not known yet who are the survivors. I doubt that the incident has anything to do with terrorism, like the bombing of trains in Madrid back in the past, it is probably just some unfortunate accident. It is good to hear that the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been recovered. It will certainly be a huge help in assisting in the investigation to what could be the possible reasons for the accident. The sad thing though is that you can't bring the dead back to life but it will help to ensure that such tragic accidents wont be happening again. If it is a human error, then someone should be punished but I dont think that any amount of punishment or compensation will be able to appease the families of the victims.

One possible reason for the high number of casualties I think is probably because it was trying to takeoff and since that is the case, the plane would have a full fuel capacity or nearly full fuel capacity and that is not a good thing if there is any accident because the more fuel there is, the more stronger the impact of the explosion there will be. Anyway, I just hope that the survivors will recover soon. I cant imagine the psychological impact that the incident will have on them. They are really fortunate to survive. Anyway, I would just like to extend my sympathy to the victims of the crash. My thoughts are with the family of the victims.

*The report was taken from Associated Press.

Russia rejects UN Georgia draft...

Russia has rejected a draft UN Security Council resolution on Georgia, saying it contradicted the terms of last week's ceasefire deal. The draft text called on Russia to pull back its forces to the positions held before the current conflict. But Russia says the truce allows its troops to stay in a buffer zone on the Georgia side of South Ossetia's border. Moscow earlier dismissed a Nato warning that normal relations were impossible while its troops remained in Georgia.

The conflict broke out on 7 August when Georgia launched an assault to wrest back control of the Moscow-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia, triggering a counter-offensive by Russian troops who advanced beyond South Ossetia into Georgia's heartland. Georgia says its action was in response to continuous provocation. Russia's UN ambassador said the French-drafted UN resolution went against the terms of the ceasefire brokered by France's President Nicolas Sarkozy. Vitaly Churkin said the resolution should incorporate all elements of the six-point peace plan agreed last week. He also objected to language in the draft reaffirming Georgia's territorial integrity, saying South Ossetia and Abkhazia did not want to be part of Georgia. Following a rebuke from Nato's 26 foreign ministers in Brussels, Moscow accused Nato of bias in favour of the "criminal regime" in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The U.S. has rejected this claims.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Russia risked becoming the "outlaw" of the conflict, in an interview with CBS news on the sidelines of the Nato emergency summit. Russia says President Dmitry Medvedev told President Sarkozy that by Friday, Russian troops would either be sent home, be pulled back to South Ossetia or to a buffer zone along the border. Russia said it had begun a pullback on Tuesday as it withdrew 11 military vehicles from the Georgian town of Gori. A Russian officer told reporters invited to watch that the column was heading for South Ossetia and then home to Russia, but Georgia dismissed it all as a show. [End on report]

On this issue, I have to say that I am Russia's side. The truth is, it was Georgia who started all this in the first place, and Russia was only responding to the aide that the people living in South Ossetia needed. In my opinion, Georgia was the aggressor while Russia was only doing what is right in the situation, which is to protect its people living in South Ossetia. Therefore, I find it strange that NATO is supporting Georgia more than it does to Russia. I think that the Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili had a plan before he went to attack the separatists in South Ossetia. He obviously knew that any form of attack against any territory that has the support of Russia will definitely cause the Russians to take some actions as we have seen in the crisis. He knows that the Russia forces are far more superior than the Georgian forces, so I dont see the reason why he would be foolish enough to ruffle Russian feathers. Nevertheless, I think he got what he wanted which was a strong respond from Russia. Therefore it was much more easier for Saakashvili to put all the blame on Russia and gave the impression that they were the bad guys and that they had a bigger thing that they wish to gain from the current crisis, which is to take control of Georgia once again. That I think is not true.

Another thing that I found amusing is that America is complaining about Russia for invading Georgia, when they had some good reasons to do so. When America invaded Iraq a few years ago, the world didnt do much to stop it and Russia did not complain too much either. If you know well, you should know that I strongly believe that the war in Iraq was justified but at that time, there was not much evidence to support the attack in Iraq, whereas in Georgia, the Russian has a strong reason to do what it is doing so I dont think it is right for the Americans to complain bout Russian aggression in Georgia. That is also why I find that the NATO draft is biased. Almost all the member countries in the organisation is supporting Georgia, which is in my mind the cause of the current crisis, and totally left out the concerns on the part of Russia. Im not so sure what is the details of the ceasefire deal because according to some report, Russia had agreed to pull almost all troops from Georgia by the weekend and I have also heard contrasting report on the issue. Russia President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed that all but 500 Russian troops needed for "additional security measures" would be pulled out of the former Soviet republic by Friday but according to the sources in Georgia, there has not been any major movements or sign of withdrawal which is why NATO is unhappy about.

The good thing about it is that the fighting between both sides have eased a little bit over the past few days or so but both sides are accusing each other for not abiding to the ceasefire deal. I dont know who is saying the truth or who is lying but my support would still be on Russia on this issue. I think they are being wrongly blame for most of the things that they are not responsible for. Just like everybody else, I would like to see a peaceful resolution on the matter but I dont think that will happen anytime soon.

*The report was taken from BBC.

Musharraf Given Departure Deadline; Announces Resignation

*Updated on 19 August. See Below.

A top ruling party official on Saturday gave Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf a two-day deadline to quit or face impeachment proceedings. Musharraf's allies insisted he was not stepping down and was prepared to fight impeachment charges. But pressure on the president mounted further after the ruling party drew up a draft of charges to support a potential impeachment. The building momentum to throw the president out of office has injected even more uncertainty into an already volatile situation in Pakistan, a country whose stability the U.S. considers critical to success in the war on terror.

Musharraf dominated Pakistan for years after seizing power in a 1999 military coup, making the country a key strategic ally of the U.S. by supporting its fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida. But his popularity at home has been dwindling. Many Pakistanis blame rising violence in their country on his alliance with the United States. Musharraf's popularity sunk to new lows in 2007 when he ousted judges and imposed emergency rule. Then his rivals came to power after February parliamentary elections, largely sidelining him. The United States has said publicly the impeachment debate is an internal matter and Pakistan's army, which Musharraf formerly headed, has also remained neutral. There is no precedent for impeaching a president in Pakistan's turbulent 61-year history. Under the constitution, a president can be impeached for violating the constitution or "gross misconduct." Coalition officials have said Musharraf's removal of judges and imposition of emergency rule last year could be cause for impeachment.

Coalition officials said Saturday they have completed a draft of the impeachment charges but it still needs approval from the party leaders. On Friday, allies and rivals of the president confirmed back-channel talks are under way to avoid an impeachment process that could further destabilize Pakistan. Musharraf's supporters want protections for him if he steps down, while suggesting they could use the courts to challenge an impeachment. Tariq Azim, a senior member of the main pro-Musharraf party, insisted Saturday the president won't quit. On Friday, Mushahid Hussain, another Musharraf ally, said the president may turn to the courts to forestall an impeachment. But Raza Rabbani, a member of the Pakistan People's Party, warned Musharraf this matter will not be decided in the courts. Whether Musharraf decides to quit could depend on what his rivals are willing to offer — particularly whether they will give him immunity from prosecution and let him stay in the country. But the ruling coalition appears divided on those questions. Sadiqul Farooq, a spokesman for the party of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif — whom Musharraf ousted in the 1999 coup — insisted immunity was out of the question. Sharif's party is the second-largest in the coalition, and it has said Musharraf should be tried for treason, which carries a maximum punishment of death.

The PPP has taken a softer tone. Information Minister Sherry Rehman said Saturday that the party "never indulges in the politics of revenge as it wants a stable Pakistan and a sustainable democracy in the country." If Musharraf quits, whether he could safely stay in Pakistan is an open question. He is despised by Islamist militants and has already been the target of multiple assassination attempts. Azim, however, said no matter what, Musharraf wants to stay in Pakistan. [End of report]

It is an interesting situation there in Pakistan. I think everyone knows that Musharraf is not the most popular guy in the country right now and it is no surprise to see why they want to see Musharraf out of power. Pakistan is an important ally for the U.S. in the war against terror but Im not sure if Musharraf has done a good job since he took over as the Prime Minister of the country. There are still a lot of elements of extremist in the country, in particular those of Taliban and al-Qaeda and I am sure they are dying to see Musharraf gone because of his close relationship with the U.S. Nevertheless, even if he is gone, I think anyone who is going to replace him is going to be the number one target for those terrorist group and they will still have to work closely together with the U.S. if they want to remove the threat, whether they like it or not. Therefore, I dont see much difference that is going to happen if Musharraf decides to step down or if he faces the impeachment process. If the impeachment process does go through, then I think it would be the end for him because currently, he is lacking of support even from those who have been supporting him earlier.

The best thing for him to do right now in my opinion is for him to step down and not make things worse for him and the country. But before he does that, he should try and gain something and that would be the immunity against prosecution. A senior official from the late Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said the coalition was prepared to hand Musharraf a deal. He can get whatever he wants as long as he resign. I think this is the best thing that he could ever hope for right now. Nevertheless, knowing the kind of man Musharraf is, I doubt he will listen to the demands of the coalition to step down. Just last weekend during a rare televised address on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of Pakistan's independence, Musharraf betrayed no intent to resign. Instead he urged a return to "political stability" through an approach of "reconciliation, not confrontation." He has even appointed a lawyer to act as his lead counsel should he be impeached. I have just heard today that he would be making an address to the nation later today. I dont know what he is going to say but his spokesman has deny rumours that he is ready to step down. I guess we will just have to wait and see what he has in mind.

I'm not a big fan of Musharraf. Yes, he is close to the U.S. but I think he appears to be weak sometimes in dealing with the threat of terrorism in the country. At the same time, I dont think the country is in a better shape after he took over. The economy is approaching a meltdown, with inflation at 25% and the rupee falling to a record low against the dollar. There is also concern that the longer the controversy over Musharraf's fate goes on, the greater distraction it will prove from the challenges of Islamist militancy which is not just bad for the country, but for its allies as well and in the war against terror. Whatever happens in the next few months or so will be interesting to see Im sure.

*The report was taken from Associated Press.


President Musharraf has announced his resignation yesterday in an address to the nation. I didnt expect him to do that but at the same time, the news wasnt surprising. It is not clear whether he has gain anything from his resignation. So we will just have to wait and see.

Our formula to success: Importing foreign talents?

As you probably know already, the Singapore team has managed to create a historic moment in the Olympic Games yesterday when the women's table tennis team defeated the team from South Korea to progress to the final and at the same time, ensuring that the team will at least win the Silver medal, which is also the first Olympic medal for the country since 48 years ago, when Tan Howe Liang became the first Singaporean to win an Olympic medal in the Rome Olympics. There is no doubt that they have done the country proud but the question that still remain in everyone's mind is whether they are truly representing the country or are they just doing themselves proud? This is due to the fact that they are not naturally born Singaporean.

I think everyone knows that there are many foreign born athletes in the country today that are representing the country in the major sporting event such as the SEA Games or the Olympic Games. These are the players under the “Foreign Talent Scheme”. The scheme was first launched in 1993 by the Singapore Sports Council and even though it has been in place for more than a decade, it’s still a perennial issue that remains unresolved. When our athletes are competing, they represent Singapore but there are still some people who are unhappy because they are not born here, even though they are doing the country proud and they usually perform much better than our local athletes. Lets take the case of the women table tennis for example. Every single one of them is from China, even the coach but they have represent the country over many years now and have done us proud on many occassions. The current success in the Olympic Games is probably their best achievement up to date. You would expect that most Singaporeans would share their joy for ending the nation dream of another Olympic medal but that is not what I am hearing. Most of them are upset at the fact that they are not pure Singaporean and are saying that the final match would be a China v China B team and their success doesnt mean much to them. Even during the semi-final match between South Korea, I noticed that there was more support for the Singapore team from the crowd, which is mostly Chinese, it felt like they were treating them as one of their own.

For me personally though, I view them as part of the country, they might not born in Singapore but they are citizens of the country now and Im sure when they represent the country, they are not just doing for themselves but for the country as well. Its like watching a parent supporting their adopted child in a sporting event, its the same feeling for me. I dont think it is about the money or wanting to prove to their own country that they were wrong to deny them the opportunity to represent their country, but instead wanting to make our country proud. Singapore gives them training, opportunities, citizenship, etc, and they help raise the standard of local players and perform for us in the international arena but at what expense? By importing foreign talents, are we depriving the opportunity for our local born athletes to shine as well? Why is it always the foreign born athletes that are always doing better than our native born athletes? Are we focusing more on having instant success that we dont really care at the development of our own athletes or are our native born athletes to blame because they dont have the heart to do well for the country? I would love to see a pure Singapore winning an Olympic medal, but Im not sure when the time will come. Do you know that even our first Olympic winner is not born in Singapore? He was born in China too.

The Government has introduced some new measures to improve the quality of our local athletes though such as the setting up of the Sport School, increased emphasis of sports in education, holding of international sports events, and a great part of the budget used to promote it. All of these measures is aim at having lower dependency on foreign talents. Nevertheless, I think that the Foreign Talent Scheme will continue to be an integral part of our sports system here especially when we have a population of only about 4 million people. You might want to know that we are not the only country in the world to import foreign talents. The USA for example has about 30 foreign talents representing them in the Olympics and Canada has about 50 foreign talents. The only difference about them is that their native born athletes are winning medals as well and they are not just depending the foreign born athletes to do well. You could of course argue that their population is much more bigger than us, so it is not fair to compare with them and I agree. But when I see lesser-known countries such as Zimbabwe or Mongolia having won some medals already, I wonder why we havnt, until yesterday news of course. I mean given the resource that we have, we should probably be doing much better than those countries. I think what we can do in the future is to focus on sports that we have a better chance of winning a medal, instead of wasting our time and money on a far more difficult sports such as swimming.

In conclusion though, I dont mind having the foreign born athletes representing our country. I dont know what they really think of representing a country which they are not born from, but as long as they wear the shirt that has the Singapore flag on it and make us proud, then I would be content. I dont understand why some people are blaming them for doing well for the country just because they are not born here. I mean they have sacrificed a lot for our country and it is only right that we give them our support. Im not saying though that all of them has been a success because some of them, I wont mention their names, have been a huge disappointment. I am still hoping to see the day when one of our own born and breed in Singapore athlete finally bring glory to the country in an Olympic Game though. At the end of the day, the underlying truth is that we need to help of our foreign talents if we are going to have any chance of winning any medal on the big stage because right now, I dont see any of our born in Singapore athlete doing that which is sad when you compare to some of our neighbouring country such as Malaysia. I think they have some foreign talents representing them in the Games but at least their own Lee Chong Wei has made it to the Badminton men's final.

The good thing about all of this is that when I hear Singaporeans complaining about foreign talents, at least I know they have a sense of national identity and pride for the country. They have an idea of what Singapore means to them. It also shows that they have a sense of belonging to Singapore and they wish to see our country doing well in everything. The bottomline is that if you cant prevent the foreign talents from coming in, then it would be better if we support them instead. Share me your views on this issue. Do you think foreign talents are necessary? Do they bring any benefit or are they detrimental to the development of our local born athletes? or is it because the country just want to have instant success without working hard for it? Tell me. But for now, I am still hoping for the best for the table tennis in the final more so because I love Li Jiawei and Feng Tianwei.

"Bigfoot" fails DNA test...

Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever. Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of one of the mythical half-ape and half-human creatures, made public at a news conference on Friday held after the claimed discovery swept the Internet, failed to prove its existence. Its spread was fueled by a photograph of a hairy heap, bearing a close resemblance to a shaggy full-body gorilla costume, stuffed into a container resembling a refrigerator (as shown in the photo above).

One of the two samples of DNA said to prove the existence of the Bigfoot came from a human and the other was 96 percent from an opossum, according to Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota who performed the DNA analysis. Bigfoot creatures are said to live in the forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. An opossum is a marsupial about the size of a house cat. Results of the DNA tests were revealed in an e-mail from Nelson and distributed at the Palo Alto, California, news conference held by Tom Biscardi, host of a weekly online radio show about the Bigfoot. Also present were Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the two who say they discovered the Bigfoot corpse while hiking in the woods of northern Georgia. They also are co-owners of a company that offers Bigfoot merchandise.

Despite the dubious photo and the commercial interests of the alleged discoverers, the Bigfoot claim drew interest from Australia to Europe and even The New York Times. Biscardi said the DNA samples may not have been taken correctly and may have been contaminated, and that he would proceed with an autopsy of the alleged Bigfoot remains, currently in a freezer at an undisclosed location. Alleged Bigfoot sightings have surfaced from time to time for years, dating to at least the 1800s. The most famous was the so-called Patterson film from 1967, which is purported to show a tall, furry, apelike creature walking along, at one point looking over its shoulder at the videographer. Most scientists who have studied the film say there's no way to authenticate it, and many say the creature appears to be a man in a costume. [End of report]

When I first saw the news and the picture of the Bigfoot, I was honestly very doubtful about whether it was really true. I'm a sceptical when it comes to Bigfoot and I dont think it exist. The picture above looks more to me like some mask or something. To me, it looks like one of the character from the Star Wars movie, Chewbacca. I find it strange how those men who found it managed to stumble upon it while hiking. The fact that the DNA test has fail to prove that it is indeed the Bigfoot itself further strengthen my claim that Bigfoot do not exist. As you can read from the report, 96 percent of the DNA samples from the 'Bigfoot' discovered was from an opossum, which is about the size of a house cat. The picture definitely doesnt look like any cat species though but DNA test are always accurate. It either proves that the 'Bigfoot' they found was just another animal which belongs to the cats kingdom or some kind of costume they have created.

Another thing that I dont understand is why there are people who are willing to spend their life to search for the Bigfoot, if they really exist. I mean what do they gain? They would be much better if they join the search for Mas Selamat because at least we know he is real unlike Bigfoot. The fact that those men are refusing to reveal the den's location of the Bigfoot for fears that they would be disturbed is probably another reason why it is difficult to believe their claims. It would be better if they could capture a Bigfoot which is still alive rather than a dead one. There have been no concrete evidence so far to support the existence of Bigfoot, so it is difficult for me to believe what they are saying just because they manage to show a dead creature which looks more like a Gorilla. I think they will need to have more evidence to show that their claims can be supported. I might be wrong about it but whatever it is, as long as it doesnt poses a threat to us human, then I have no problem with it. Even if it exist, you can be sure that you will never find a Bigfoot here in this country because they would have been discovered already if they are here.

Well, that is what I think about Bigfoot. I believe in the supernatural world but not in Bigfoot though. What do you think? Do you believe in Bigfoot or do you think it is just another fairytale? Whatever it is, nobody can really say what is the right answer. Only time will tell whether there is a Bigfoot hiding somewhere out there and I will be waiting for that day to come when I can finally say I am wrong about it.

*The report was taken from Reuters.

The girls have done it!

We have been waiting for 48 years for an Olympic medal and we will not have to do that any longer now. That is because our women table tennis team has made it to the finals! Yes they finally made it! The team, comprising of my favourite Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu defeated the team from South Korea in the semi-finals. It wasnt an easy victory though. They had to work hard for it.

The match took almost 3 hours or so and it needed the entire 5 sets. We won the first set, lost the second, win again in the third, lost in the fourth, and last but finally, came out victorious in the fifth and final set. The saviour of the day though was not Li Jiawei, it was Feng Tianwei. I think she was the main reason why we won the match. It was a great match as well, end to end stuff.

So we await the winner of the other semi-final match which is between China, the No.1 seed and Hong Kong. Whatever the result in the final is, we are assured to get a medal, at least the silver medal. Before the tournament started, everybody would be happy with any medal but I think right now, we should try and aim for the gold medal. We are in the final afterall, so why not go all the way.

Im excited for the team and I cant wait for the final which is going to happen this Sunday. You can do it girls! And last but not least, I just want to say that I love Li Jiawei which gives me an extra motivation to support the team.