Villagers in Kazakhstan use 'guard wolves' for protection

Mr Zhylkyshybay says he takes his wolf, Kurtka, for walks through the village

"You can buy a wolf cub for just $500 (£320), they say, and hunters are adamant that if treated well the wild animal can be tamed," the KTK television channel reports. Nurseit Zhylkyshybay, from the south-eastern Almaty region, tells the channel he bought a wolf cub, Kurtka, from hunters three years ago, and the animal is perfectly happy wandering the yard of his house. "He's never muzzled, I rarely put him on a chain and do take him for regular walks around the village. Our family and neighbours aren't scared of him at all," Mr Zhylkyshybay insists. "If the wolf is well fed and cared for, he won't attack you, although he does eat a lot more than a dog."

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But wolf expert Almas Zhaparov says the animals are "far too dangerous" to keep at home. "A wolf is like a ticking bomb, it can go off at any moment," he tells KTK.

"If nothing is done, the fashion could spread to wealthy Kazakhs," who might try to keep wolves in the grounds of their houses, with possibly deadly consequences, he warns. Social media users are overwhelmingly apprehensive about the trend, although a few accuse the government of failing to cull wolves in the first place.

"You can't blame villagers for using wolves to fend off wolves," says one person on the Nur news portal. Another user engages in a little black humour: "The sheep are in the pen, and the wolves have full bellies - but no one can find the shepherd."

Wolves might be playful, but one expert warns keeping them at home is potentially disastrous

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Ya think?! Ferguson prosecutor says witnesses lied under oath to grand jury

© Reuters/Cristina Fletes-Boutte

St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch

Some witnesses obviously lied while testifying under oath to the Ferguson grand jury that ultimately declined to indict 18-year-old Michael Brown, said the St. Louis county prosecutor in charge of the case, Bob McCulloch.

Speaking with KTRS radio, McCulloch said his goal was to have any individual who claimed to be a witness testify before the grand jury.

"Clearly some were not telling the truth," he said.

Specifically, McCulloch noted that one woman in particular who said she witnessed the shooting but "clearly wasn't present." According to McCulloch, "she recounted a story right out of the newspaper" that matched up with the account of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Brown on August 9.

Notably, the account given by this witness, identified as Sandra McElroy by the , was scrutinized in great detail by investigators, who eventually concluded she could not have seen the shooting like she said she did. McElroy claimed she saw Brown charge at Wilson before he was shot.

Despite apparently knowing some witnesses were not telling the truth, McCulloch said he does not have second thoughts about the way he conducted the case, nor does he plan on pressing charges against those who lied.

"It's a legitimate issue," McCulloch said, as quoted by NPR. "But in the situation - again, because of the manner in which we did it - we're not going to file perjury charges against anyone. There were people who came in and yes, absolutely lied under oath. Some lied to the FBI - even though they're not under oath, that's another potential offense, a federal offense."

The comments comes as one Missouri lawmaker is pushing for an investigation into the prosecutor's behavior during the grand jury proceedings, citing allegations that he "manipulated" the situation.

"Many St. Louis-area residents believe - and there is at least some evidence to suggest - that Mr. McCulloch manipulated the grand jury process from the beginning to ensure that Officer Wilson would not be indicted," wrote State Rep. Karla May in a letter to Sen. Kurt Schaefer.

Schaefer's Senate committee is currently looking into Gov. Jay Nixon's response to the protests that raged following the grand jury decision, and May wants the review expanded to include McCulloch role as prosecutor.

"I don't believe he followed proper procedures when he presented evidence to the grand jury," May told the AP. "To me, he was working for the defendant in this case and not the victim."

For his part, McCulloch said he was "fully aware" of these concerns but called them

"unfounded." It's not clear if the prosecutor will be investigated.

Elsewhere in his interview, McCulloch defended the decision to announce the grand jury ruling at night, saying, the events that followed were out of his control and would have happened anyway.

"There was no good time to make the announcement," he said. "Those who were bent on destruction, they weren't demonstrators, they're common criminals."

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More meteor scribblings in the sky? Strange glowing cloud spotted in sky above Siberia

© Biysk

A strange-shaped cloud materialised in the early morning sky above Siberia just minutes after the launch of a rocket sending satellites into space. Glowing orange as it was touched by the rays of the rising sun, it cast a ghostly spectre against the clear winter sky.

For a while it was unclear what had caused the trails of vapour over the southern Altai region, with many even speculating about the possibility of UFOs.

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However, while no official confirmation has been given, it was almost certainly made by parts of the rocket falling to earth as it powered into orbit. Indeed experts have said that it is consistent with the second stage disengagement.

The Altai region is close to where the Proton-M rocket blasted off from its launch site in nearby Kazakhstan, with space debris regularly landing there. It was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrone at 6.16am on December 15, carrying a Yamal-401 satellite.

A number of residents in the city of Barnaul, on the banks of the River Ob, took photos and videos of the subsequent glowing patterns, and uploaded them to social media. Extremely cold weather is required to create the clouds, with vapour from the hot falling debris meeting the freezing air.

Natalia Pavlova, the head of the Barnaul planetarium, said the patterns could have been caused by the rocket launch, but stressed falling meteors was another explanation.

Residents in Siberia and Urals are becoming used to seeing mysterious lights in the sky.

Meteorites, missiles, a plane crash, and even extra-terrestrial activity were among the many theories put forward to explain the incident on November 14.

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New bizarre-looking species breaks record for world's deepest fish

Aberdeen University researchers have set a new record for the deepest fish ever found (shown in red ring)

A never-before-seen fish has been caught on camera, setting a new depth record in the Pacific Ocean.

The world's deepest fish was captured on camera at depths of 8,145 meters (26,700 feet) in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. The newest discovery breaks a depth record set in 2008 by nearly 500 meters (1,640 feet).

The previously unknown creature, believed to be a snailfish, was filmed several times floating along the sea floor. It is a white translucent fish with an eel-like tale and wing-like fins.

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The footage was captured by a team of Scottish scientists aboard a vessel from the Schmidt Ocean Institute. It was caught on camera during a 30-day expedition in the Mariana Trench.

"It stunned scientists because in other trenches, there is only one fish species at this depth--a snailfish; this fish is really different from any other deep-sea fish that scientists have ever seen," posted the Schmidt Ocean Institute.

The institute states other rare creatures were also discovered on their expedition, including a "supergiant" amphipod - a very large crustacean.

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Snowy owl sightings on the rise across the upper US

If you have a passion for birds or even if you're so-so about them, you're going to love this. All the indicators are present telling us this year is going to be witness to another snowy owl eruption across the upper United States. That means for us up here on the Range, too!

Last year, 2013-2014, we saw what was possibly the largest eruption of snowy owls during the last century. This year could be even better. There have already been 44 snowy owls reported in Minnesota alone.

There are different theories on why Snowy Owls leave the Arctic. Some believe that due to such great nesting success, a shortage of food forces the younger owls to leave the area in search of better hunting territories. Others believe the younger owls leave because they have not perfected their hunting skills yet and would not be able to survive competing among older, wiser owls. No matter the reason, what this really means to most of us is this will be a great winter to get out and see one of these beautiful visitors from the Arctic Tundra.

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North Korea says it can prove it wasn't behind Sony hack

© Reuters/KCNA

Kim Jong Un

North Korea has proposed a joint investigation with the United States into the hack attack against Sony Pictures, according to the state news agency, KCNA.

The offer comes as the FBI formally accused Pyongyang of the attack on Friday and US President Barack Obama promised to "respond proportionally" to the online breach.

North Korea says it can prove it has nothing to do with the cyberattack on Sony, the KCNA news release said.

© Sony Pictures

The statement by Pyongyang also warns of "" if Washington refuses to cooperate in the investigation of the attack and continues to accuse North Korea.

Sony's network was hacked in November, with masses of private data, including employees' emails, being made public.

The attack was followed by threats against movie theaters that planned to show "," a comedy in which the US intelligence seeks to kill North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un. Sony eventually refused to release the film.

Although North Korea has from the start denied being involved in the hacking and the threats, it still praised the cyberattack as a "."

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A source in the White House recently told the Wall Street Journal that the US was considering redesignating North Korea as a state sponsor of terror. The country had spent 20 years on the terror black list before being taken off it in 2008 by George W. Bush.

Nuclear boost to counter 'US hostile policy'

It's not only the allegations of masterminding the Sony hacking that are vexing Pyongyang. The recent UN General Assembly vote in favour of referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court over alleged crimes against humanity has been seen by the hermit state as an invasion attempt by the US.

North Korea warned on Saturday it would respond by boosting its nuclear power capability.

"," the North's foreign ministry spokesman said on KCNA, as cited by Reuters.

"," the spokesman said in a statement.

North Korea has so far carried out three nuclear tests, the latest one nearly two years ago. Pyongyang has claimed the nuclear activity is purely for self-defense.

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Hugging as form of social support protects people from getting sick

Psychologists go to surprising lengths in new study to show how much a hug can help.

Being hugged reduces the deleterious effects of stress on the body, according to new research which intentionally exposed people to a cold virus.

Hugging acts as a form of social support and protects people from getting sick and even reduces their illness symptoms if they do get sick.

The study, published in the journal , asked 404 healthy adults how much social support they perceived they had from other people (Cohen et al., 2014).

They were also asked about how often they were hugged and how often they came into conflict with others.

Participants were then exposed to a cold virus in the lab (they were well paid for this: $1,000 each).

Their condition was monitored in quarantine to see if they developed a cold and how severe their symptoms were.

Professor Sheldon Cohen, who led the study, explained its rationale:

"We know that people experiencing ongoing conflicts with others are less able to fight off cold viruses.

We also know that people who report having social support are partly protected from the effects of stress on psychological states, such as depression and anxiety.

We tested whether perceptions of social support are equally effective in protecting us from stress-induced susceptibility to infection and also whether receiving hugs might partially account for those feelings of support and themselves protect a person against infection."

The results showed that people who were hugged more often or who perceived they had greater social support were less likely to catch the cold in the first place.

Those who did get a cold had less severe symptoms they were hugged more and felt supported socially.

Professor Cohen said:

"This suggests that being hugged by a trusted person may act as an effective means of conveying support and that increasing the frequency of hugs might be an effective means of reducing the deleterious effects of stress.

The apparent protective effect of hugs may be attributable to the physical contact itself or to hugging being a behavioral indicator of support and intimacy.

Either way, those who receive more hugs are somewhat more protected from infection."

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