Danish zoo to publicly dissect lion

Danish zoo to publicly dissect lion

COPENHAGEN, Denmark

A Danish zoo is planning to publicly dissect a year-old lion that it has killed to avoid inbreeding – a year after another Danish zoo triggered massive online protests for killing a healthy young giraffe, dissecting it and feeding it to lions in front of children.

The Odense Zoo in central Denmark says the healthy young female lion was put down nine months ago because the zoo had too many felines. It said the animal, which has since been kept in a freezer, will be dissected Thursday to coincide with the schools’ fall break.

Zookeeper Michael Wallberg Soerensen said the Odense Zoo, 105 miles west of Copenhagen, has performed public dissections for 20 years. He says they are “not for entertainment” but are educational.

Earthquakes shake northern Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY

Two moderate magnitude earthquakes shook northern Oklahoma on Saturday, including one near the major oil storage hub of Cushing.

The strongest was a magnitude-4.5 quake recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey at 5:03 p.m. Saturday about one mile northwest of Cushing. It followed a magnitude-4.4 quake recorded at 4:20 a.m. about 18 miles southwest of Medford and about 100 miles northwest of Cushing.

Cushing is where the world’s most important crude-oil storage hub is located, and it is used to settle futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Agent who saved Reagan after shooting dies

WASHINGTON

The Secret Service agent credited with saving President Ronald Reagan’s life on the day he was shot outside a Washington hotel has died.

The retired agent, Jerry Parr of Washington, D.C., died Friday at age 85.

Parr was in charge of Reagan’s detail March 30, 1981, when a young man with mental problems, John Hinckley Jr., shot the president outside the Washington Hilton. When the shots rang out, Parr pushed Reagan inside the presidential limousine, and it sped away for the White House.

After Reagan complained of chest pains and showed blood on his lips, Parr redirected the limousine to George Washington Hospital. As it turned out, Reagan had been hit in the chest and was bleeding internally.

Doctors later said that any delay would have cost the president his life.

Kim Jong Un vows N. Korea ready to counter US threat

PYONGYANG, North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took center stage at a military parade and mass rally in Pyongyang on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of the country’s ruling party by declaring in a rare speech that the North has no intention of straying from the socialist track established by his grandfather and is ready to stand up to any threat posed by the United States.

“Our revolutionary force is ready to respond to any kind of war the American imperialists want,” Kim said, flanked by visiting Chinese official Liu Yunshan and senior North Korean officials.

Kim said North Korea’s policy of putting its military first has made it “an impenetrable fortress and a global military power.”

Associated Press