Dogs are not only considered a delicacy in Vietnam, they are slaughtered with intentional cruelty because the adrenaline this produces in the suffering animal improves the flavor. Dogs are also rare in Vietnam and must be smuggled in from other countries in an illegal trade that activists in Thailand are trying hard to stop. This is because the country where most of the smuggling originates is Thailand. Pet dogs provide the best meat and, because of their love of man, are easiest to handle. Activists believe that 98% of the animals involved are stolen pets.
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Rivers across Central Europe rose above flood stage as parts of Prague flooded along banks of the Vltava River. So far, two people have died in flooding in Germany and Switzerland, and two are known dead and one missing in Austria. Declining energy from the Gulf Stream is driving less and less warm water into the waters around the British Isles, leading to cold and unstable weather across the western and central parts of the continent. At the same time, cold fresh water flowing down into the North Sea from Arctic melt has intensified unusually cold spring conditions across central and northern Europe.read more

Tornadoes stalked the Midwest once again last night. At least 17 twisters were reported across five states, with the greatest concentration in Oklahoma and around Oklahoma City in particular. So far, 5 people had been reported killed and 71 injured. There has been extensive property damage both from high winds and from the flooding that accompanied the storms. While tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Indiana and Illinois, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City in particular, took the brunt of the storms.
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Asteroid 1998 QE2 passed within 3.2 million miles of Earth, and as predicted, continued on its way. The asteroid, nearly two miles in diameter, came complete with its own tiny moon in orbit around it. While this one was not a danger to Earth, should an object as large actually hit our planet, the devastation would bring mankind and probably all other animals, if not most life, to an end.
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