Bull gores 2 in final run of Spain’s San Fermin
Pamplona(Spain): A fighting bull gored two men and spread panic in a hair-raising final running of the bulls at Spain’s San Fermin festival today. Hundreds of people dashed alongside the six half-ton beasts and their accompanying steer through the cobblestone streets of Pamplona in the eighth run.
There were spine-chilling moments when one bull separated from the pack and charged three runners, pinning them against walls and barriers while trying to gore them. Navarra hospital’s Dr Oscar Gorria said two men were gored in the leg.
A Navarra regional government statement identified one as a 24-year-old Australian with the initials, J M. He was gored in the right thigh. It said a 27-year-old Spaniard with the initials E G E suffered three horn wounds. Neither was in serious condition. Five Spaniards were also hospitalised for other injuries.
The morning runs are the highlight of the nine-day street-partying festival immortalised in Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises.”
In the runs, hundreds of people test their speed and bravery by racing the bulls along a 850-meter course from a holding pen to the city’s bull ring. Dozens of people are injured each year in the “encierros,” as the runs are called in Spanish, most of them in falls. Besides the Australian, five Spaniards and one American were gored in this year’s festival. Fifteen people have died from gorings since record-keeping began in 1924. (AP)
China busts World Cup gambling rings worth USD 3bn: reports
Beijing: Chinese police have uncovered a series of illegal World Cup betting cases involving almost USD 3 billion, media reported on Monday, as authorities struggle to control the country’s growing gambling problem.
Betting is banned in China, except where it is run by the government or the proceeds donated to charity — but outlawed operations, which usually offer more favourable odds, spike during the World Cup. “The number of people arrested (during the tournament) was 108, and the cash involved totalled 18 billion yuan (USD 2.9 billion),” the Guangming Daily said, citing police, in a report which referred to an unspecified number of betting rings. The sum is likely to be only a small fraction of what was gambled illegally during the tournament.
China failed to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil, but there is nonetheless huge interest in football betting.
Only a small portion of it goes to legal gambling through the state-sanctioned lotteries, but that element was still expected to total more than 10 billion yuan (USD 1.6 billion) on the tournament, which concluded on when Germany defeated Argentina in the final. Illegal betting in China usually takes place via outlawed websites, and can involve gamblers having to pay substantial “membership fees”.
In May, police in Shanghai detained 63 people for being involved in an illegal online gambling operation that was alleged to have handled more than 113 billion yuan. (AFP)
Baboons groom their dominant friends for favours
London: Baboons groom dominant members of their group in the morning hoping for better treatment throughout the day, research has shown.
Grooming among baboons helps relieve stress and improves hygiene.
Smaller baboons groom the larger ones, for access to infants, mating opportunities and better food.
The more dominant a baboon in the group, the earlier it gets its treat.
“Subordinates were more likely to groom the more dominant individuals earlier in the day, when most foraging activities still lay ahead and the need for tolerance at shared feeding sites was greatest,” said Claudia Sick, from University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
Scientists know that strong social bonds develop in animal groups after years together and these bonds help in the fitness of members.
So they expected individuals to work on only such long-term relationships.
However, the study has shown that relationships also vary over months and weeks and the social strategies of baboons are also flexible over short periods of time. (Agencies)