Feather-coveting thieves take flight with English museum’s rare tropical bird skins

September 22nd, 2009 Tropical depression forms in the PacificMIAMI — A tropical depression has formed out in the Pacific Ocean. The depression has maximum sustained winds near 35 mph (55 kph) Tuesday night.

September 8th, 2009 Vatican museums to stay open at night through Oct.VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says Friday nights at its museums have been a great success, so it is extending the initiative to include September and October. The Vatican Museums, which include a visit to the Sistine Chapel, are jammed by tourists during the daytime, so this summer they opened the doors on an experimental basis on July 24.

September 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A man from Karnataka was Saturday arrested here with four deer skins, Delhi Police said. The special investigation team (SIT) arrested Vishal from Rohini in northwest Delhi.

August 24th, 2009 Tropical depression forms far out in PacificMIAMI — A tropical depression has formed far out over the Pacific Ocean and forecasters say it could become a tropical storm. According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the depression has maximum sustained winds near 35 mph (55 kph) but is expected to strengthen.

August 23rd, 2009 Rare tiger killed, body stolen from Indonesian zooJAKARTA, Indonesia — A group of thieves killed an endangered tiger in an Indonesian zoo and stole most of its body, zoo officials said Sunday, a theft police suspect was motivated by the animal's valuable fur and bones. The remains of the female Sumatran tiger were found by staff Saturday at the Taman Rimba Zoo in Jambi province on Sumatra island, said zoo director Adrianis, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

August 18th, 2009 Vatican extends museum nights through OctoberVATICAN CITY — The Vatican says Friday nights at its museums have been a great success and will be extended through September and October. The Vatican Museums, which include a visit to the Sistine Chapel, are jammed by tourists during the daytime.

August 15th, 2009 New tropical depression forms in AtlanticMIAMI — A new tropical depression has formed over the Atlantic behind Tropical Storm Ana and both are expected to slowly strengthen over the next couple of days. The National Hurricane Center said Saturday that the third depression of the Atlantic season had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and could soon become a tropical storm with winds of at least 39 mph.

August 14th, 2009 $1.65M reward offered in London jewel thief huntLONDON — British police say a reward of 1 million pounds ($1.65 million) is being offered for information leading to the capture of thieves who pulled off one of the country's biggest jewel heists. The Metropolitan Police said Friday the reward is for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the thieves and the recovery of jewels with a retail value of 40 million pounds, or $65 million, taken from Graff Diamonds in London last week.

August 11th, 2009 New tropical depression forms in the AtlanticMIAMI — A new tropical depression has formed in the Atlantic while Tropical Storm Felicia continues to move across the Pacific. The new tropical depression is only the second of the Atlantic hurricane season and has maximum sustained winds near 30 mph.

August 4th, 2009 Tropical depression forms in Eastern PacificMIAMI — The National Hurricane Center says a tropical depression has formed in the Eastern Pacific and is expected to intensify into a tropical storm within a day. Forecasters say the depression is the seventh of the 2009 Eastern Pacific hurricane season.

July 26th, 2009 AWOL zoo bird recaptured in Philadelphia parkPHILADELPHIA — Officials at the Philadelphia Zoo say they're happy that an AWOL avian has been found and is returning to its perch. Zoo spokesman Bill Larson says a tropical bird that flew the coop two days ago was recaptured Saturday morning in the city's Fairmount Park.

July 24th, 2009 Fledgling fowl takes flight from Philadelphia ZooPHILADELPHIA — Attention, bird watchers: A flamboyant feathered friend has apparently flown the coop at the Philadelphia Zoo. Zoo officials say the juvenile sun conure (CON'-yer) parrot disappeared Thursday during the Festival of Flight bird show.

July 10th, 2009 Tropical depression forms in Pacific OceanMEXICO CITY — A tropical depression formed Friday far off Mexico's Pacific coast and is expected to strengthen while moving farther out to sea. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the depression had winds of about 35 mph (55 kph) and is likely to become a tropical storm by Saturday and possibly a hurricane by next week.

June 13th, 2009 Museum experts ID birds that bring down planesCHICAGO — When animals are the prime suspects in a whodunit, who gets on the case? In capers where feathers or fur are the smoking guns, the role of CSI is often played by top natural history museums. They can even tell when the perp was from out of town.

March 19th, 2009 LONDON - An analysis of a dinosaur fossil found in China has revealed a primitive form of feather that may have evolved much earlier than was previously thought, as it dates back to 100 million years. The dinosaur fossil was discovered by Xiao-Ting Zheng at the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature and colleagues in China.