Riddle of 'forest boy' found in German wood

'I'm All Alone': Forest Boy's First Words

Tuesday September 20, 2011

These were the first words of an English-speaking teenager who claims he has been living rough in a German forest have been revealed.

A computer-generated image of the mystery teenager

The youth, who is apparently 17, wandered into Berlin's City Hall and declared: "I'm all alone in the world."

According to The Daily Telegraph, baffled workers heard him insist: "I don't know who I am. Please help me."

Police are still working to identify the teenager, who walked in off the street on September 5.

He was carrying a tent, a sleeping bag and a backpack and claimed he did not know who he was or his background.

The boy, who is in good health, called himself Ray and spoke in fluent English with only a few words of German.

He said he had walked from the forest, where he had been living with his father for the last five years.

According to his story, his father was killed in a fall some two weeks ago.

He has claimed he buried the body in a shallow grave and covered it with stones before walking to civilization.

He said he walked north, using a compass, to reach Berlin but could not identify the woods he had lived in.

The father and son had apparently been living rough since the boy's mother died in a car crash.

The youth is in the care of social services as authorities try to solve the riddle of his identity.

A Europe-wide appeal via Interpol has been made to help the investigation.

Police spokesman Klaus Schubert said: "We have contacted police departments in other countries to tell us if they have cases of missing young men so we can compare the dates."

The youth walked into Berlin City Hall and said he was 'all alone'

Mr Schubert said the youth is being looked after by staff from the Youth Welfare Office, adding: "He is OK, his constitution is good. He said he was living in the woods but there are a lot of woods. He said he buried his father but he cannot describe where it was. He said it was a few days south of Berlin - it could be anywhere. It is very difficult to find this sort of place.

The Foreign Office in London has said it is aware of the reports and is looking into them.

In 2005, the Piano Man was found wandering through the streets of Sheerness, Kent.

For months he remained uncommunicative except for showing his accomplished pianist skills.

He was eventually identified as 20-year-old Andreas Grassl from Germany.

LINKS: Sky News, BBC News (video),

BBC: Football News

Coventry City beat Aston Villa

to go top of the table

By Tony Leighton
Women's football correspondent

Coventry City beat midland rivals Aston Villa 2-0 to move three points clear at the top of the Women's Premier League table.

Both clubs were promoted from the Northern Division last season and each of them has made an impressive start to the new campaign.

Premier League title holders Sunderland twice had to come from behind to force a 2-2 draw with Charlton Athletic, last season's Southern Division champions.

All three of the weekend's other scheduled league matches was postponed due to international call-ups.

Aston Villa 0-2 Coventry City

Strike partners Courtney Sweetman-Kirk and Maz Gauntlett were both on target as Coventry claimed a fourth win in their opening five games.

Sweetman-Kirk opened the scoring after just five minutes, looping a 20-yard shot into the top corner of the net after collecting a loose ball.

And Gauntlett hit the clincher with her fourth goal of the campaign, neatly directing a 56th-minute header just inside the near post.

The result meant that Villa, in a hard fought game of few chances, were defeated for the first time this season.

Sunderland 2-2 Charlton Athletic

Like the two teams promoted from the Northern Division, Charlton have started the new campaign brightly and gave the Black Cats quite a scare on their own territory.

Kim Dixson shot the Addicks in front with a six-yard shot following a good 39th-minute move.

On the stroke of half-time Kelly McDougall equalised from the penalty spot after the former England midfielder had herself been brought down.

But the visitors pressed again after the break and went back in front when Gemma Bryan cut in from the left to fire the ball home.

Perseverance paid off for Sunderland, however, Sophie Williams racing on to a Nicola Divine pass to level the scores 13 minutes from time.

The two sides are now level on points with third in the table Villa, who are ahead of them on goal difference and sit two points behind second-placed Leeds United.

More here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/women/default.stm

Current FA Women's Super League Table here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/women/table/default.stm

Comparison of Web Sites

For those interested and want to share their personal opinion, take a look at the JAKARTA POST web site and the JAKARTA GLOBE web site. Which do you think is better and why?

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News: Orangutans Smoking

INDONESIA, Jakarta (The Blaze/AP) — Orangutans are often said to be similar human beings in their actions. New reports appear to indicate that these mammals enjoy smoking cigarettes as much as some people do.

Over the years, critics have taken aim at Southeast Asian zoos and their willingness to allow the animals to use and abuse tobacco. One wildlife activist is claiming that zoo officials in Indonesia are taking no steps to stop orangutans from smoking cigarettes.

Visitors to the Taru Jurug Zoo in Solo, a city on Java island, have been giving cigarettes to the endangered red apes for years. One young male was captured on video shortly before his death in 2009 smoking with his 5-year-old son.

Hardi Baktiantoro, director of the Center for Orangutan Protection, said Friday the youngster can still be seen puffing away at the zoo today as keepers look on.

While some may find such a prospect entertaining in theory, one shouldn’t underestimate the health risks involved in the use of the drug among these animals. Plus, many would contend that distributing cigarettes constitutes a form of animal abuse.

In Malaysia, the situation has been handled much differently. According to the Associated Press, wildlife officials are saying that a captive orangutan often spotted smoking cigarettes given to her by zoo visitors is being forced to kick the habit.

Government authorities seized the adult ape named Shirley from a state-run zoo in Malaysia’s southern Johor state last week after she and several other animals there were deemed to be living in poor conditions.

Shirley is now being quarantined at another zoo in a neighboring state and is expected to be sent to a Malaysian wildlife center on Borneo island within weeks.“I would say she is not addicted … but she might have formed a habit after mimicking human beings who were smoking around her,” Ahmad told The Associated Press.

Melaka Zoo Director Ahmad Azhar Mohammed said Shirley is not being provided with any more cigarettes because “smoking is not normal behavior for orangutans.”

Shirley was so far displaying a regular appetite for food and no obvious signs of depression or illness, Ahmad said. Results from her blood tests and other detailed health examinations were not yet available.

Nature Alert, a British-based activist group, wrote to Malaysian officials about Shirley earlier this year, saying conservationists who visited the Johor zoo often saw people throwing lit cigarettes to her in a pit-like enclosure.

The group said Shirley seemed to suffer severe mood swings, sometimes looking drowsy and on other occasions appearing “very agitated” without a cigarette.Authorities last week also reportedly seized a tiger and a baby elephant that was kept chained at the Johor zoo.

It is not clear when Shirley started smoking. Officials have estimated she is around 20 years old. Orangutans, which are native to rainforests in Borneo and Indonesia’s Sumatra island, can live up to about 60 years in captivity.

Other countries such as South Africa and Russia have also reported cases of primates learning to smoke after zoo visitors ignored warnings and tossed cigarettes into the cages of chimpanzees. Below, we’ll leave you with footage of an orangutan who, when thrown a lit cigarette, apparently said “no”.

Any thoughts on this anybody?

Aljazeera: Danes vote for first woman PM

Denmark has elected its first female prime minister, removing the right-wing government from power after 10 years in power.

Near complete official results indicated on Thursday that Denmark's centre-left, led by Social Democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt, won the general election and would gain a narrow majority in the 179-seat Parliament.

"We did it. Make no mistake: We have written history," the 44-year-old opposition leader told jubilant supporters in Copenhagen on Thursday.

"Today there's a change of guards in Denmark."

The opposition won 89 of the mainland seats compared to 86 for the governing coalition, according to preliminary results, with 100 per cent of votes counted.

Rest of the article is here:

http://aljazeera.com/news/europe/2011/09/201191613754462625.html

Use the 'Comments' feature to share your thoughts on this news item.

BBC: Freeport mine strike in Indonesia

Thousands of workers are staging a month-long strike at one of the world's largest gold and copper mines in the remote Indonesian province of Papua.

Union leaders said production had been paralysed at the Grasberg mine, which is run by US firm Freeport-McMoran.

The workers want at least a five-fold increase in their current salary of about $3 (£1.90) an hour.

Analysts say a previous stoppage in July was a factor in raising copper prices around theworld.

The whole article here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14926412

Anyone have any comments about this news story?