October 2010. A pair of Eagle Owls has had to adapt to urbanization and reduction of their natural habitat by nesting in a pot plant. With trees and other flora cut down to accommodate the growth of the sprawling metropolis of Johannesburg, the Eagle Owls were forced to leave their natural nesting habitat and find sanctuary in a pot plant on the balcony of Allan and Tracy.
On the 21st of August she laid 3 eggs that have now hatched and this is the story of how the pair of Spotted Eagle Owls are raising their chicks.
The Pot Plant Owl story is fully detailed on her official website www.potplantowl.co.za and the LIVE streaming video is brought to you in partnership with Africam.com.
To watch the live streaming video of the Eagle Owls and their chicks go to Africam.com.
Mexican Spotted Owl Recovery Plan Calls for Expanded Thinning to Restore Habitat, Reduce Severe Fire Risk: here.
CANBERRA, Australia—Australia was opening its first parliamentary debate Tuesday on its nine-year military deployment in Afghanistan, after fractures appeared in the national commitment to the war, its strategy and objectives.
The three-day debate was unlikely to lead to any major policy change, because the major political parties have expressed their determination to stay the distance with the United States, Australia’s most important military ally.
It will be the first such debate on the Afghan deployment. In Australia the Cabinet commits the nation to war without any need to consult the parliament.
Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott both indicated that they would use their speeches Tuesday to maintain bipartisan support for the Australian mission in southern Uruzgan province, where Australian soldiers train an Afghan army battalion to take charge of provincial security. That mission is expected to take between two and four years.
But a lawmaker in Abbott’s Liberal Party, Mal Washer, and newly elected independent lawmaker, Andrew Wilkie, have announced that they agree with the Greens that Australian troops should be withdrawn.
“It took us too long … to define what we had to achieve,” Smith told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. “That’s why political will, and the patience of domestic constituencies, is now an issue” in Australia, the U.S. and Europe.
A dozen members of group representing veterans and former service personnel opposed to both the Afghanistan and Iraq [wars] demonstrated outside Parliament House on Tuesday before the debate began.
“In the history of Australia at war, this in an important day—a war is being reviewed,” the group Stand Fast‘s spokesman Graeme Dunstan said.
“Things are changing rapidly in Afghanistan, and I’m concerned about the lives and safety of Australian troops,” Brown told ABC. ….
Australia is the largest contributor of troops of any country outside NATO. Opinion polls show that Australian support of the war has slid as the Australian death toll has mounted to 21.
Hugh White, Australian National University’s Professor of Strategic and Defense Studies Center, said Gillard’s explanation that the troops were protecting Australians by preventing Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terrorists was “very unsatisfactory.”
Since U.S. led-forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001, al-Qaida has created new bases in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia that also pose terrorist threats to Australians, White said.
White said most people believe that “the core reason” Australia was in Afghanistan was because the United States wanted Australian troops there.
The death this month of British aid worker Linda Norgrove in Afghanistan and the subsequent discussion about aid worker safety have fueled a row between the United States and nongovernmental organizations about how to deliver aid and do development work in conflict zones like Afghanistan and Pakistan. …
NGOs have been operating in Afghanistan for more than 30 years with minimal protection from armed security guards. They are not getting security from “deterrence,” but rather from the acceptance of the local population, which helps protect them and advises about the security situation.
In areas of Afghanistan still rife with insurgent activity, NGOs lament that the distinction between them and the military is being blurred, hindering their ability to develop critical trust from the community.
Afghanistan, War And The Media: Deadlines And Frontlines: book review here.
USA: Paul Rieckhoff: After nearly a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, over 2 million Americans have served, a trillion dollars have been spent and yet only 3 percent of Americans have war on their radar this election. But unlike Congress, our troops don’t have the luxury of quitting before their mission is complete. They can’t cut out early when lives are on the line. For a country in the midst of two wars, Washington’s recent commitment to ensuring these men and women have the tools to successfully transition home has been half-hearted: here.
USA: Obama’s Military Appointments Have Corrupt Past: here.
The New York Times Hypes the Afghanistan War, Again: here.
Britain: Cameron & Clegg say we’ll keep sending soldiers to kill and die in the pointless, unwinnable Afghanistan war: here.
Red Cross: War casualties soar in south Afghanistan: here.
USA: The strike by Detroit Symphony Orchestra players enters its third week Monday. The 85 musicians walked out October 4 against management attempts to cut their base pay by 33 percent and the pay of starting players by 42 percent, along with additional cuts in health benefits (which would, in fact, reduce pay by more than 33 percent) and other humiliating demands. Interview with striking Detroit Symphony violist Hart Hollman: here.
What happens in Detroit will not stay in Detroit. At least, not what happens at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. For while the strike under way at that venerable ensemble reflects unique and dire circumstances, both the conflict and its outcome are of great interest to the music world generally and the Cleveland Orchestra in particular, where a one-day strike took place in January: here.
Members of the Cleveland Symphony joined striking members of the Detroit Symphony at an October 24 support concert before a sellout crowd of 700: here.
Hollywood musicians express support for Detroit Symphony strikers: here.
Musicians of the Louisville Orchestra in Kentucky are facing an ultimatum to take steep pay and job cuts while musicians in the Fort Worth Symphony, Texas, narrowly approved harsh concessions: here.
The huge strikes of the last week entered a sixth day with no sign of weakening from demonstrators who continued their opposition to cuts in retirement benefit and extensions of the working lifetime demanded by France’s right-wing government: here.
The European Commission is considering whether to drop its threat of legal action against France after Paris responded to its concerns about expulsions of Roma (Gypsies): here. And here.
