Over 400 Dolphins landed dead on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico Since Feb 2011 - Scientists still do not know why..

Dead baby bottlenose dolphins are continuing to wash up in record numbers on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and scientists do not know why.


(above video is  taken in FEB 2011 as this was the only video available so far)
Since February 2010 to April 2011, 406 dolphins were found either stranded or reported dead offshore.


The occurrence has prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to designate these deaths as an "unusual mortality event" or UME. The agency defines a UME as a stranding incident that is unexpected or involves a significant loss of any marine mammal population.


"This is quite a complex event and requires a lot of analysis," said Blair Mase, the agency's marine mammal investigations coordinator.

NATO ducks apology over rebel deaths - Second time with in 2 weeks

NATO concedes alliance air attacks "may have caused" the death of rebel fighters in tank strike outside Brega.

The deputy commander of NATO's operations in Libya has said he is "not apologising" for two air strikes which "may have led to the deaths" of a "a number of" opposition fighters outside the town of Brega.




Rear Admiral Russell Harding said in a press briefing on Tuesday that the situation on the ground had been "very fluid" when the strikes were launched a day earlier.He said tanks had been moving in different directions and that it was difficult to distinguish who was operating them.

"Until this time, we had not seen the TNC [Transitional National Council] operate tanks," he said.
General Abdelfatah Yunis, the rebel commander, said in Benghazi that four people - two fighters and two medics - were killed in the attack, 14 wounded and another six people were missing.

He said it was friendly fire, "carried out in error by NATO," adding that the freedon figters had now informed NATO that they were moving T55 and T72 heavy tanks from Benghazi to Brega.

He said that they still have 400 tanks and will get more in future.

Groups of fighters and civilians fled from the eastern town of Ajdabiya on Thursday after the air strikes.

Libyan state television claimed that forces loyal to longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi had entered Ajdabiya, but residents said they could see no sign of them.

NATO took command of the air operation last week after American, British and French air strikes halted Gaddafi's troops from advancing on Benghazi.


Freedom Figters say they need to buy more high-powered weaponry from abroad and would welcome foreign trainers to help them teach fighters how to use them, but so far no countries have acknowledged that they will sell weapons to the Freedom Figters.

On Thursday, however, General Younes said publicly for the first time that Qatar had provided the Freedom Figters with anti-tank weapons. Qatar was the second country to recognise the opposition Transitional National Council as Libya's legitimate government and has said it will market oil provided by freedom figters.

World Cup 2011 Final To be observed again by ICC - To check whether it was politically set up

The ICC is faced with a reasonable doubt on whether the World Cup final was politically set up.

The ICC Executive Committee is to meet next week to decide on appointing a special team to re-observe the World Cup final match, it is learnt.

It is learnt that the ICC doubts have been based on two confidential reports handed to the Council by and English and Australian commentator about several instances in the match that did not seem proper.

Lieutenant Wickramaratne is being tortured for the disappearance of four sailors !

Sources at the Defence Ministry say that special unit is torturing the Officer in Charge of the Chundikulam Naval Unit Lieutenant P.N.O Wickramaratne at a secret location for the disappearance of four sailors off Mulativu on 29 March.

The OIC is now being detained for more than eight days on charges of not reporting about the incident for 24 hours.

IPL SEASON 4 Begins - First Match Dhoni's CSK vs Gambir's KKR

For what it's worth, this IPL starts off with a lovely battle within a battle. MS Dhoni who who led India to the World cup win vs Gautam Gambhir who played a big hand in that final. It's not as big as the Dhoni v Tendulkar contest, but it's a mouth-watering prospect nevertheless. 

With Head to Head, Chennai Super Kings clearly have the psychological advantage when it comes to previous meetings between these two teams; Dhoni and Co. have emerged victors in four of their six contests against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Both of Chennai Super Kings’ previous home matches against the Kolkata Knight Riders ended in nine-wicket victories for the hosts. However, with a revamp in most teams, Gambhir and Co. will not really worry about past results. 
Chennai Super Kings squad - MS Dhoni (Captain), S Anirudha, R Ashwin, S Badrinath, GJ Bailey, DE Bollinger, DJ Bravo, F du Plessis, BW Hilfenhaus, MEK Hussey, SB Jakati, Joginder Sharma, S Randiv, KMDN Kulasekara, VY Mahesh, JA Morkel, A Mukund, SK Raina, WP Saha†(Wk), TG Southee, SB Styris, S Tyagi, K Vasudevadas, G Vignesh, M Vijay


Kolkata Knight Riders squad - G Gambhir (Captain), S Ladda, L Balaji, R Bhatia, MS Bisla, SP Goswami, BJ Haddin†(Wk), Iqbal Abdulla, JH Kallis, B Lee, EJG Morgan, YK Pathan, JL Pattinson, PJ Sangwan, Shami Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, LR Shukla, RN ten Doeschate, MK Tiwary, JD Unadkat


Players to keep an eye on ;


CSK - Indians          : MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, M Vijay. 
CSK - Overseas Players : Hussey, A Morkel, Tim Southee, Bravo, Plessis, Styris and Kulasekara                                            


KKR - Indians          : Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan
KKR - Overseas Players : Jack Kallis, E Morgan, Brad Haddin, Shakib Al Hasan 
                        

- Number of International Players per match per team -  Each team may not name more than 4 Overseas players (as defined in the IPL Player Regulations) in its starting 11 for any match. (1.2.5 / http://www.iplt20.com/match-playing.php)

Attack on Ivorian leader's bunker repelled

Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president of Cote d'ivoire, is still holding out in a bunker as fierce battles continue in Abidjan.


The Associated Press news agency reported on Thursday that fighters had laid siege to Gbagbo while negotiators continued to try coax him out.








Earlier on Wednesday, negotiations led by the UN and France aimed at securing the departure of Gbagbo had failed according to Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister.

Libyan Freedom Figter's manage to regain ground near Brega - Libya Uprise Latest

Freedom Figter's claim regaining new ground in port town as Gaddafi's forces cripple oil production in eastern Libya

Pro-democracy fighters have regained ground in a new advance on the oil port of Brega in eastern Libya.

Rebels said the loss of ground early this week to forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi is a normal occurrence in fluid desert wars, and will not prevent them from ousting the Libyan leader.

Meanwhile, NATO stepped up the pace of its air campaign over Libya on Wednesday, a day after facing fierce criticism of not doing enough to protect civilians in Misurata.

The alliance dismissed opposition criticisms saying the safety of civilians is its top priority and pledged to do everything it can to ensure that.

t accused Gaddafi's troops of hiding tanks, troops and heavy weapons among civilians to stop NATO aircrafts from air strikes.

On Tuesday Gaddafi's forces pushed back rebels from Brega in the pro-democracy movement's first significant loss of territory in almost a week.

"This kind of desert fight is very fluid; advancing 20 kilometres and then retreating 20 kilometres is normal in a desert war," Mustafa Gheriani, a rebel spokesman, said.

"Look at the desert war during the Second World War, around [the eastern Libyan town of] Tobruk: they were moving by 50 kilometres every day."

Gheriani said "our forces are at the eastern border of the city, the [Gaddafi] militias are inside the city and the fight is going on".

He said Gaddafi's army "has a lot of weapons left" and can threaten Ajdabiya, about 80 kilometres further east, "but we hope our resolve and most of all the resolve of NATO will prevent them to do that".

Pro Premadasa Members Axed from UNP New Committee - Rosy Buddhika not in it !

Colombo District MP Rosy Senanayake, Matara District MP Buddhika Pathirana, Ratnapura District MP Dunesh Gankanda and former MP & Minister Imtiaz Bakeer Markar and Matale’s Ranjith Aluvihare were axed.

Kandy’s Lakshman Kiriella and Joseph Michael Perera have been appointed Senior Deputy Chairmen

Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena was appointed as the Deputy General SecretaryAmara Piyaseeli Ratnayake and Kabeer Hashim have been appointed as Vice Chairmen while Renuka Herath and K. Velayuthan were appointed as Additional Secretaries.
Dayasiri Jayasekera has been appointed deputy to the Chief Opposition Whip.

Dictator Gadhafi asks Obama to end NATO bombing

As freedom fighters and pro-government forces in Libya maneuvered on the battlefield Wednesday, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi urged U.S. President Barack Obama to end the NATO bombing of his war-torn country.


Gadhafi made the appeal in a letter to the American president, a senior administration official said.

SLC selection committee quits before end of term !

The Sri Lankan selection committee, headed by chief selector Aravinda De Silva, has handed in its resignation to the sports minister. On what was a second successive day of churn in the country's cricket establishment, Mahela Jayawardene also quit as the team's vice-captain. Kumar Sangakkara had on Tuesday announced his decision to step down as the the limited-overs' captain of the side.