Nato blamed
16 Gulf Daily News Sunday, 26th June 2011 WORLD
Happy
Feet
of killing
going
home
15 civilians
n The penguin on the Kapiti Coast, near Wellington
WELLINGTON: A young emper- where we’re lucky enough to
or penguin stranded in New have a great community of
Zealand has survived two medi- wildlife experts, capable not
cal procedures and now has an just of pumping sand but also
offer of a lift home. ensuring this wayfaring fellow
Yet the aquatic bird that is hosted appropriately until it’s
many are calling Happy Feet time to set sail,” Morgan wrote
– after the lighthearted 2006 on his website.
movie – is not out of danger yet. “A sea passage is far more
The penguin remained on an akin to the animal’s natu-
intravenous drip yesterday and ral rite of passage across the
faces another procedure tomor- Southern Ocean than any trip TRIPOLI: Nato came
row to remove more sand from in a Globelifter jet might be, under verbal fire
its digestive system. with no risk of deep vein throm- again yesterday from
If it does pull through, a busi- bosis,” Morgan added jokingly.
nessman wants to take it by boat Whether officials choose to Muammar Gadaffi’s
to Antarctica next February. take Morgan up on his offer regime, which
Happy Feet arrived on may depend on Happy Feet’s accused it of killing
Peka Peka Beach, about 65km health. 15 more people in
northwest of Wellington, last Peter Simpson, a programme
Monday, the first time in 44 manager for New Zealand’s strikes on civilian
years that an emperor penguin Department of Conservation, sites in the eastern
has been spotted in the wild in said earlier in the week that town of Brega, a
New Zealand. Typically, emper- there was a chance the bird claim denied by the
ors spend their entire lives in might have picked up a disease
and around Antarctica. in warmer climes which staff alliance.
At first Happy Feet seemed wouldn’t want to introduce Meanwhile, three
fine, but as the week pro- back into the Antarctic colony. powerful explo-
gressed, the bird became more sions struck the east-
lethargic. It ate a lot of sand, Shelter ern Tripoli suburb of
apparently mistaking it for Tajura, where a number
snow, which emperor penguins If a trip back to the Antarctic
doesn’t pan out, there’s always of military installations
eat in Antarctica to hydrate are located, and col-
themselves during the frozen the offer of a more sheltered
winters. life. umns of smoke could
By Friday, conservation offi- Lauren DuBois, assistant be seen from the city n A man looks at a damaged house which was used as a military base by Gadaffi forces in the village
cials decided its condition had curator of birds at SeaWorld in centre, reports said. of Al Eawenia, near the city of Zintan. Right, rebels carry out their training with a captured Gadaffi army
worsened to the point that it San Diego, which has the only It was not known if tank in Zintan
colony of emperor penguins in
the blasts were the result
Football players join rebels
would likely die without inter-
vention. So they transported the North America, said SeaWorld
would be willing to step in and of an attack by Nato, which has repeatedly
penguin in a tub of ice to the targeted the area in the past.
Wellington Zoo. help.
Thirty birds live there in a And in the opposition stronghold of
Zoo spokeswoman Kate
Baker said the bird was put on 25-degree Fahrenheit (minus Benghazi, a top official of the National
4C) habitat that simulates Transitional Council (NTC) said rebels CAIRO: Players and coaches from Libya’s national soccer team have announced their sup-
anaesthesia for two-and-a-half Antarctica, with up to 2,270kg port for the fight to end Muammar Gadaffi’s 42 years in power, a rebel spokesman said
hours on Friday while veteri- expect to receive an offer from Gadaffi yesterday.
of snow blown in every day. “very soon” that could end the four-month-
narians flushed its throat and Estimated to be about 10 Seventeen players from the team defected while they were in the West African nation of
stomach with water to remove months old, Happy Feet prob-
old war. Mali for a match and later travelled to Tunisia, said Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, spokesman of
sand. A second procedure yes- ably was born during the last In the latest accusation against Nato, the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi.
terday was more of the same, Antarctic winter and may have Libyan television said “the colonialist cru- “We welcome this from the national team and our youth,” Ghoga said. “This case shows
yet the penguin’s digestive sys- been searching for squid and sader Atlantic coalition bombed civilian that demands of the youth for freedom and anyone who has the chance to announce their
tem still remained clogged. krill when it got lost. Experts sites, among them a bakery and a restau- defection and support for the rebels would do so.”
Baker said staff want to give haven’t yet determined whether rant in Brega, creating 15 martyrs and Four of the players are from Tripoli’s most popular team, Al Ahly, where one of Gadaffi’s
the bird a break today but plan sons, Al Saadi, once played, said Ghoga. Al Saadi now heads Libya’s Football Federation.
it is male or female. more than 20 wounded, among them regu- The players crossed into rebel-held territory in Libya’s western mountains. They visited
a third flushing procedure The rare venture north cap- lar clients of those places”.
tomorrow. The bird remained tured the public’s imagination, residents in the town of Zintan yesterday.
on an intravenous drip yester- Following the claim, a Nato spokesman
with school groups, sightseers said the alliance “did target buildings in Bracken said: “We take great care to avoid three command and control centres located
day to help it rehydrate. and news crews coming to the
New Zealand investment beach to see the penguin and an abandoned area of Brega. These were civilian casualties, and even at the last in buildings which had been comman-
adviser Gareth Morgan, who photograph it from a distance. legitimate military targets that were hit. minute we will divert weapons to ensure deered by the regime, and a warehouse
is leading an expedition to The amazing journey of “We took a long time to watch the area civilians are not injured.” complex used to stockpile military sup-
Antarctica next February, yes- emperors, the tallest and largest and make sure. Meticulous planning went In London, British military spokesman plies,” he said.
terday offered Happy Feet a species of penguin, to breeding into this.” Nick Pope said the attacks followed “sus- In Benghazi, NTC vice-chairman Abdel
trip home aboard a Russian grounds deep in the Antarctic A Nato official said “since midnight, we tained and intensive surveillance which Hafiz Ghoga said intermediaries had indi-
icebreaker. But it would not be was chronicled in the 2005 docu- have not struck any targets in Brega,” a key had confirmed the use of the various build- cated a proposal from the Libyan strong-
for another eight months. mentary March of the Penguins, refinery town 800km east of Tripoli and ings by regime troops and the absence of man was in the works and that the rebels
“Of course until that time which highlighted their ability normal civilian patterns of life in the sur- would give it serious consideration if they
Happy Feet will have to be to survive – and breed – despite 240km southwest of Benghazi.
cared for here in Wellington, the region’s brutal winters. Separately, Operation Unified rounding areas.” received it. “We expect to get an offer very
Protector’s military spokesman Mike RAF Tornados had hit “a radar station, soon; he is unable to breathe,” said Ghoga.
“We want to preserve life,
New York gay marriage law sparks debate
so we want to end the war
as soon as possible. We have
always left him some room for
an exit.”
NEW YORK: Many obstacles still lie student three decades ago. marriages are legal. Fred Sainz, a vice-president of the Ghoga said the NTC under-
ahead for supporters of same-sex mar- With a historic vote by its Legislature, The outcome – a product of inten- Human Rights Campaign, a gay advo- stood through contacts with
riage, and eventually they will need New York became the sixth state to sive lobbying by the new Democratic cacy group. France and South Africa that
Congress or the Supreme Court to legalise same-sex marriage since Governor Andrew Cuomo – will have Wolfson, president of the advocacy a Gadaffi offer was being pre-
embrace their goal. Massachusetts led the way, under court nationwide repercussions. Activists group Freedom to Marry, said the goal pared.
For the moment, though, they are order, in 2004. hope the New York vote will help con- is attainable by 2020, or sooner, “if we The rumours have been
jubilantly channelling the lyrics of “New With the new law, which takes effect vince judges and politicians across the do the work and keep making the case”. fuelled by a military deadlock
York, New York” after the Empire State after 30 days, the number of Americans country, including a hesitant President The work – as envisioned by leading on the ground and a steady
became the most populous state to legal- in same-sex marriage states more Barack Obama, that support of same- activists – is a three-pronged strategy trickle of defections from
ise same-sex marriage. than doubles. New York’s population sex marriage is now a mainstream view- unfolding at the state level, in dealings Gadaffi’s forces.
“Now that we’ve made it here, we’ll of 19 million surpasses the combined point and a winning political stance. with Congress and the Obama adminis- The rebels said 38 Gadaffi
make it everywhere,” said prominent total of Massachusetts, Connecticut, “New York sends the message that tration, and in the courts where several officers – including six of high
activist Evan Wolfson, who took up Vermont, New Hampshire and Iowa, marriage equality across the country challenges to the federal ban on gay rank – fled to Tunisia a day
the cause of marriage equality as a law plus Washington, DC, where same-sex is a question of ‘when,’ not ‘if,’” said marriage are pending. earlier.