INTERNATIONAL
Scientists: Reconstructing giant Afghan Buddha statue possible
BERLIN (AP) — German scientists said Monday it may be possible to reconstruct one of two giant 1,500-year-old Buddha statues dynamited by the Taliban in central Afghanistan 10 years ago, which prompted a worldwide outcry and left behind only towering cliff caverns.
Researchers have studied several hundred fragments of the sandstone statues that once towered up to 180 feet high in Bamiyan province and found they were once brightly colored in red, white and blue, said Erwin Emmerling of Munich’s Technical University.
 
Pro-Gadhafi forces fight rebels in 2 cities, warplanes drop bombs
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — International pressure on Moammar Gadhafi to end a crackdown on opponents escalated Monday as his loyalists fought rebels holding the two cities closest to the capital and his warplanes bombed an ammunition depot in the east. The U.S. moved naval and air forces closer to Libya and said all options were open, including patrols of the North African nation’s skies to protect its citizens from their ruler.
 
UK removes ice cream containing human breast milk from shop
LONDON (AP) — Local government officials said Monday they have confiscated ice cream made with human breast milk from a London shop amid concerns the dessert is unsafe.
A spokeswoman from Westminster City Council said it was responding to two complaints from the public over whether a shop should be selling edibles made from other people’s bodily fluids and awaiting guidance from Britain’s Food Standards Agency.
 
NATIONAL
Whale ‘Flex’ tracked to North America has visited area before
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Marine researchers say a rare whale tracked across the Pacific Ocean into North American waters this year had been there before.
Photo analysis has confirmed that the highly endangered western Pacific gray whale dubbed Flex — one of only 130 remaining — was photographed in 2008 off Canada’s Vancouver Island and was assumed to be part of the eastern gray whale population.
U.S and Russian researchers started tracking the male whale Oct. 4 when they tagged him with a satellite tracker off Sakhalin Island, Russia.
 
Tiny spy planes could mimic birds, record audio and video
SAN DIEGO (AP) — You’ll never look at hummingbirds the same again.
The Pentagon has poured millions of dollars into the development of tiny drones inspired by biology, each equipped with video and audio equipment that can record sights and sounds.
They could be used to spy but also to locate people inside earthquake-crumpled buildings and detect hazardous chemical leaks.
 
STATE/LOCAL
US approves first post-spill deepwater well in Gulf of Mexico
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. has approved the first deepwater drilling permit in the Gulf of Mexico since BP’s massive oil spill.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement announced Monday that it issued a permit to Noble Energy Inc. to continue work on its Santiago well about 70 miles southeast of Venice. Drilling will resume nearly one year after BP’s blowout created the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.
 
Katrina shooting suspect not a candidate for liver transplant
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A white Mississippi man charged with shooting at three black men who were trying to leave New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina isn’t a candidate for a liver transplant and remains mentally unfit for trial, his attorney said Monday.
Defense attorney Valerie Jusselin told a federal magistrate that her client, Roland Bourgeois Jr., doesn’t know if he will make it onto a transplant waiting list.
“Right now, he’s not even being considered for a liver transplant,” Jusselin said.
 
 
____
Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]