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Indian teams hunt for tiger after 3 Bandipur deaths

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There are about 1,700 tigers in the wild in India
Forest officials in the southern Indian state of Karnataka are searching for a tiger which they say has killed three villagers in the past week.

Teams have gone deep into Bandipur tiger reserve with orders to shoot the "man-eater" with tranquilisers.

A fourth fatality in recent days is being blamed on another tiger.

Meanwhile, angry locals demanding compensation for the families of those killed have set fire to two jeeps belonging to forest officials.

The villagers also want a permanent solution to the man-animal conflict in the region.

The first fatal attack took place on 27 November, when a man called Basavaraju was killed. Two days later, a second victim, Cheluva, fell prey to the same tiger, officials believe. They say the animal was last spotted on 30 November.

Its latest presumed victim, 60-year-old farmer Shivamallappa Basappa, was found by his son on Tuesday night close to the forest in Mysore district. Only parts of his leg and skull remained.

"The body of the third farmer who was killed has been found. We have seen the pug marks of the tiger. It is moving around somewhere close by," HC Kantharaju, conservator of forests in Bandipur tiger reserve, told BBC

Laptop

South Korea: Surge in 'digital dementia'

Digital Dementia
© Getty ImagesDoctors in South Korea are reporting a surge in 'digital dementia' among young people who have become so reliant on electronic devices.
Doctors in South Korea are reporting a surge in "digital dementia" among young people who have become so reliant on electronic devices that they can no longer remember everyday details like their phone numbers.

South Korea is one of the most digitally connected nations in the world and the problem of internet addiction among both adults and children was recognised as far back as the late 1990s.

That is now developing into the early onset of digital dementia - a term coined in South Korea - meaning a deterioration in cognitive abilities that is more commonly seen in people who have suffered a head injury or psychiatric illness.

"Over-use of smartphones and game devices hampers the balanced development of the brain," Byun Gi-won, a doctor at the Balance Brain Centre in Seoul, told the JoongAng Daily newspaper.

"Heavy users are likely to develop the left side of their brains, leaving the right side untapped or underdeveloped," he said.

The right side of the brain is linked with concentration and its failure to develop will affect attention and memory span, which could in as many as 15 per cent of cases lead to the early onset of dementia.

Yoda

Argentina: Monsanto protester beaten, threatened with death at world's largest GMO farm

sofia gatica monsanto
Sofia Gatica holds a container of toxic chemicals.
Sofia Gatica, a leading Argentine campaigner against Monsanto's agrochemical spraying on GM soy and winner of the Goldman Prize, received a death threat from a suspected Monsanto mercenary who held a gun to her. A few days later, Sofia was attacked and beaten up near her place of work.

Protesters in Argentina continue to block construction of what is planned to be the biggest Monsanto plant in Latin America. They have occupied the construction site in Malvinas, Argentina for about two months now and Monsanto stands accused of resorting to intimidation tactics to try and remove them.

Star

'Tips for Jesus': Massive mysterious tips are being left at pubs across the country in God's name

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© TipsForJesus on Instagram
In today's day and age, generosity isn't always heralded or highlighted, but some inspirational stories of late show that goodness and kindness are still alive and well.

Take, for instance, the "TipsForJesus" movement, an anonymous individual - or a group of individuals - who continuously leave massive tips at pubs, restaurants and other establishments.

An Instagram account with the username "TipsForJesus" is continuously documenting these escapades, including images of receipts from each good deed and some of the elated faces of individuals receiving these gifts.

While those behind the tip giving effort remain a mystery, a mission statement is present on the aforementioned Instagram account: "Doing the Lord's work, one tip at a time."

Heart - Black

Catholic hospital sent home woman enduring dangerous, prolonged miscarriage, suit claims

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A Michigan woman said she was denied proper medical treatment three times by a Catholic hospital because it would have conflicted with the church's teachings.

Tamesha Means said she was only 18 weeks pregnant in 2010 when her water broke prematurely, and she went to Mercy Health Hospital in Muskegon - the only hospital within a half-hour of her home.

A lawsuit filed Nov. 29 by the ACLU claims health care providers did not tell Means that she had little chance of successfully continuing the pregnancy or that her own health was at risk if she tried to continue the pregnancy.

Instead, the suit claims, Means was simply sent home.

But Means returned to Mercy Health the following day, bleeding and in pain, and the suit claims she was again sent home without being told about the risks of continuing her pregnancy.

Means came back a third time - now suffering a serious infection - and the suit claims health care providers intended to send her home yet again when she went into premature labor.

Bizarro Earth

Starving rebels eat lion from a Damascus zoo

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Pictures of a lion reportedly killed for food were posted online
A graphic picture has emerged which appears to show Syrian rebels so desperate for food they have killed and butchered a lion.

Parts of Damascus have been under siege by the Syrian army for more than six months, causing food to become scarce as winter draws near.

The picture, which has not been independently verified, appears to show a visibly emaciated lion.

It is though to have been captured from Al-Qarya al-Shama Zoo, in east Ghouta.

Last month, clerics issued a fatwa, or religious order which allowed staving Syrians to eat cats and dogs if food supplies became desperate.

Stock Down

Best of the Web: New low for Congress: Just 6 percent approve, finally lower than car salespeople

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The public's approval rating for Congress has finally hit rock bottom: For the first time, America has a higher opinion of car salespeople.

A new Economist/YouGov.com poll put the approval rating of Congress at a historic low of 6 percent. A December 2012 Gallup poll comparing Congress' approval ratings to other occupations had car salespeople at the bottom at 8 percent and Congress at 10 percent. Now Congress is the cellar dweller.

The nation's bad opinion of Congress, impacted by inaction, budget fights and the battle over the filibuster, has also spread to Senate leaders. Just 19 percent approve of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell while 54 percent disapprove. Democratic leader Sen. Harry Reid's ratings are 52 percent unfavorable, 25 percent favorable.

Red Flag

Buyer beware: Negative online reviews could end up costing you big

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One Family Is Still Struggling To Regain Their Credit 6 Years Later

If you have ever written a negative online review of a product or service it could wind up costing you thousands of dollars and causing countless headaches.

When John Palmer tried to buy his wife some Christmas gifts his holiday shopping spree turned into a nightmare that he is still living with 6 years later.

"We don't want them to get away with this," Palmer said.

The gifts that Palmer ordered off of KlearGear.com never arrived, he claimed. After 30 days Pay Pal canceled the transaction.

The couple repeatedly called the website to find out what happened but did not get an answer so they posted a review on RipOffReport.com, CBS 2′s Kathryn Brown reported.

"There is absolutely no way to get in touch with a physical human being. No extensions work," the review said.

Heart - Black

Bill O'Reilly: Jesus is 'not down' with giving poor people food stamps because it's their fault

Bill O'Reilly - Fox News
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No one knows what Jesus would do to feed today's poor, hungry Americans - but Fox News host Bill O'Reilly is pretty sure the Christian savior wouldn't be "down with" giving them food stamps because it's "their fault."

After Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) recently said that Jesus "didn't charge food stamps" in response to Republican efforts to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Pope Francis called income inequality immoral, O'Reilly tried to set the record straight with a segment about the "nanny state" on Tuesday.

The Fox News host acknowledged that Christ would have fed the poor, but objected to the idea that he would have "hurt" richer Americans to help feed them.

"The problem I have, as I stated is that you're helping one group by hurting another group and a bigger group, and so I don't know if Jesus is going to be down with that," O'Reilly told Pentecostal Pastor Joshua Dubois.

"Jesus would be down for the poor," Dubois pointed out. "He would want to make sure every single person in this country had enough food to eat. And the bottom line is if you add up every single private charitable dollar that feeds hungry people in this country, it's only 10 percent of what we would need to make sure everyone has food in their stomachs. The rest comes from the federal government."

Cult

U.S. Army Seargents coerced rookie female soldiers into prostitution ring at Fort Hood - Officers ran base's 'sex assault and harassment prevention program'

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Seventeen-year veteran accused of using service set up by co-ordinator of base's sex assault and harassment prevention program

Female soldiers at Fort Hood testified Monday that they were recruited for a prostitution ring set up by a sergeant involved in the sexual assault and harassment program at the Central Texas post.

The testimony came as the court-martial began for another Fort Hood soldier accused of using the service, which Army prosecutors said preyed upon young, cash-strapped female soldiers at Fort Hood.

Master Sergeant Brad Grimes is a 17-year Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army prosecutors said in the military court on Monday that Grimes participated in the prostitution ring set up by another Fort Hood sergeant not yet charged but still under Army investigation, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Comment: See also: 'One third of US military women raped'