70-million-year-old giant frog fossil in Madagascar


This video is called Argentine Horned Frog (Ceratophrys ornata).

From the BBC:

Frog from hell‘ fossil unearthed

A 70-million-year-old fossil of a giant frog has been unearthed in Madagascar by a team of UK and US scientists.

The creature would have been the size of a “squashed beach ball” and weighed about 4kg (9lb), the researchers said.

They added that the fossil, nicknamed Beelzebufo or “frog from hell”, was “strikingly different” from present-day frogs found on the island nation.

Details of the discovery are reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The team from University College London (UCL) and Stony Brook University, New York, said the frog would have had a body length of about 40cm (16 inches), and was among the largest of its kind to be found.

“This frog, a relative of today’s horned toads, would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth,” explained co-author Susan Evans, from UCL’s Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

“If it shared the aggressive temperament and ‘sit-and-wait’ ambush tactics of [present-day] horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals.

“Its diet would most likely have consisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it’s not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling or juvenile dinosaurs.”

The researchers added that the discovery of the fossil supported the theory that Madagascar and the Indian and South American land masses could have been linked until the Late Cretaceous Period (75-65 million years ago).

“Our discovery of a frog strikingly different from today’s Madagascan frogs, and akin to the horned toads previously considered endemic to South America, lends weight to the controversial model,” Professor Evans explained.

Cretaceous reptiles and mammals in Madagascar: here.

[Horned] Frog tadpoles ‘scream’ underwater, discover scientists: here.

More evidence that Blair lied about Iraq war


This video from the USA is called Iraq WMD Lies: the words of mass deception.

From British daily The Independent:

Fresh evidence that the Iraq weapons dossier was “sexed up” emerged as the Government finally published the secret first draft of the document.

As expected, the earliest version of the document did not include the now notorious claim that Saddam Hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of an order to do so.

See also here.

And here.

‘CIA helped draw up dodgy Iraq war dossier for No 10’: here.

Figures on the Iraq occupation: here.

Castro will not seek re-election as president of Cuba


This video from the USA is called CIA Director Richard Helms on Ways to Kill Castro.

From British daily The Independent:

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said today that he will not return to lead the country, retiring as head of state 49 years after he seized power in an armed revolution.

Castro, 81, said in a statement to the country that he would not seek a new presidential term when the National Assembly meets on 24 February.

English translation of Castro’s letter is here.

See also here.

Steve Bell cartoon on Castro and Guantanamo Bay: here.