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In 2007, when Dominique Strauss-Kahn was packing up to become the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Jean Quatremer, a writer for the French paper Libération wrote on his blog that "Strauss-Kahn's only real problem is his relationship to women. Too heavy … it borderlines harassment," reports the UK’s Guardian. The Guardian says that “many politicians privately wonder[ed]” then “how he would cope in a puritan U.S. which frowns upon sexual advances.”He may not have coped at all. He may have snapped. I hope that I’m wrong about it, but fear that I’m not. Strauss-Khan, a 62-year old French...

Emerging from a partially frozen pond more than 6,000 feet high in the Alps, European common frogs (Rana temporaria) set out to find mates and begin breeding activities. These frogs have adapted to a wide variety of conditions, increasing their range over most of Europe. Here on the Massif de Beaufort in the French region of Savoy, ice may not thaw until June, leaving only a brief window of warm weather for females to lay eggs and tadpoles to metamorphose into juveniles, known as froglets. Cold-climate frogs grow more slowly than their relatives in temperate areas, but live longer (12...

A newfound, pea-size frog, Microhyla nepenthicola, sits on the tip of a pencil. One of the smallest frogs in the world, the species was spotted inside and around pitcher plants in Malaysian rain forests on the island of Borneo

Let's all read the immigration law, shall we? (It's only 10 pages)

The first monogamous amphibian has been discovered living in the rainforest of South America. Genetic tests have revealed that male and females of one species of Peruvian poison frog remain utterly faithful. More surprising is the discovery that just one thing - the size of the pools of water in which they lay their tadpoles - prevents the frogs straying. That constitutes the best evidence yet documented that monogamy can have a single cause, say scientists. Details of the frog's sex life is to be published in the journal The American Naturalist. These frogs are truly devoted to their offspring,...

> Boulder County's bomb squad responded to the Peak to Peak Charter School after an employee there called at about 7:15 a.m. Wednesday to report the unattended bag. Authorities used a robot with movable arms and a camera to investigate the bag and then an officer inspected it to make sure it was safe. >

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration says a test shows that either a frog or a toad was in a Florida man's soda can, but it's not clear how it got there

A frog has been snapped riding on top of a fish. The crafty creature was caught surfing on the head of the bright yellow Koi carp in a stunned couple's pond in their back garden. Amazingly Terry and Margaret Huggins said they watched the fun-loving frog hitch a ride on the super-cool carp for 30 minutes before it hopped off at 7am one morning. Advertisement - article continues below » Quick-thinking Mr Huggins, 76, of Warboys, Cambs, grabbed his camera and took pictures of the incredible natural double act. Terry, of Warboys, near Huntingdon, Cambs, said: "I've never seen anything...

A FROG that constantly changes colour is being worshipped as a GOD in India. Hundreds of curious followers flock to Reji Kumar’s home every day to pray and ask for miracles. Now one of the country’s top zoologists plans to study the rainbow frog. But Reji, 35, who keeps the creature in a glass bottle after finding it while out watering plants, is afraid it might CROAK first. He said: “My one problem is that this frog does not appear to eat. I keep trying to feed it but it doesn’t eat anything. I don’t know what else to give...

The Amazon basin is well known for its wide variety of species, but the rainforest might owe some credit to the mountains as a source for that rich diversity. A new study found that populations of poison frogs made their way from the Andes to the Amazon about a dozen times over the last 10 million years. Scientists suspect that the mountains have long been supplying the jungle with other species of plants and animals, too.

I'll start with frogs, and a turtle. Swamp Archives, 2006, with the little Olympus C2100UZ, 9 years old now, still shooting, only 2MP but they are great MPs! JimRob may want us to limit this archive thing, it's his den. I reckon I could post pics for several years if I start digging. These have degraded slightly, moving jpg files around isn't a good plan. FLORIDA BRONZE FROG SOUTHERN LEOPARD FROG RED EARED SLIDER GREEN TREEFROG

BOLZANO, Italy— Italian politician Franz Pahl revealed today that Pope Benedict XVI has criticized Martin Kippenberger's controversial sculpture of a crucified frog, ANSA reports. The pope wrote to Pahl in a letter on August 7, saying the artwork "has injured the religious feeling of many people who see in the cross the symbol of the love of God and of our salvation which deserves recognition and religious devotion." Benedict was vacationing in Bressanone, a town near Bolzano, and discussed the work with local bishop Wilhelm Egger. Kippenberger's sculpture has sparked controversy since its installation in the Museum of Modern and...

Froggie, the marble-eating Albino African Claw Frog, is home after recovering from innovative stomach surgery that allowed Dr. James Askew to remove three offending large glass beads - one clear, one turquoise, one blue. Admittedly, that's not normal frog food, but she was hungry. Vela Taconi thought Froggie was getting fat, so she cut back on "his" food. "His" is a key word because everyone thought the white aquatic frog was male. Wrong. --- SNIP ---- "I can't believe I've been so upset over a frog," Taconi admitted Thursday when the family came to retrieve Froggie. "But he, I...

PALM BAY, Fla. -- A Palm Bay woman claims her fast-food lunch included the head and front half of a frog and she snapped a cell phone photo to prove it. Michelle Arndt, 32, told Local 6 News partner Florida Today that she ordered a salad with fried chicken strips and found the frog after eating about half of the salad. Local 6 and Florida Today have not named the restaurant where the salad was purchased. "I think it's totally disgusting," Arndt said. "Where is the other half of the frog?" Arndt said a manager took the salad and her...

Giant prehistoric frog hints at ancient land link 22:00 18 February 2008 NewScientist.com news service Rowan Hooper An artist's impression of Beelzebufo shows it facing a modern-day Mantidactylus guttulatus, the largest living Malagasy frog (Image: Luci Betti-Nash) The discovery of a giant frog fossil has opened a rift among researchers over when an ancient land bridge closed. Discovery of the fossil in Madagascar supports the controversial view that South America and Madagascar were linked until 80 million years ago - far more recently than previously thought. The frog, dubbed Beelzebufo, resembles the family of horned toads that are now unique...

Want a ride? Hop on my Harley Davidson Chonburi According to the nursery rhyme, when froggie goes a-courtin' he takes a sword and pistol by his side. This frog, though, prefers to travel unarmed on a Harley-Davidson. Nong Oui, a black-spotted frog, also likes to show off her balancing skills and ride a toy dumper truck. The frog was found by Tongsai Bamroongtai, 52. “I looked her straight in the eye and knew I could communicate with her,” she said. “She can strike a pose just about anywhere.” Nong Oui first became renowned in Thailand, where she lives, for...

New Zealand scientists have found what appears to be a cure for the disease that is responsible for wiping out many of the world's frog populations. Chloramphenicol, currently used as an eye ointment for humans, may be a lifesaver for the amphibians, they say. The researchers found frogs bathed in the solution became resistant to the killer disease, chytridiomycosis. The fungal disease has been blamed for the extinction of one-third of the 120 species lost since 1980. Fearful that chytridiomycosis might wipe out New Zealand's critically endangered Archey's frog (Leiopelma archeyi), the researchers have been hunting for a compound that...

INVESTIGATING judges filed preliminary charges yesterday against former prime minister Dominique de Villepin for his suspected role in a smear campaign aimed at Nicolas Sarkozy before he was president. The preliminary charges were for "complicity in slanderous denunciations", Mr de Villepin's lawyer, Luc Brossollet, said. The case stems from an alleged attempt in 2003-2004 to discredit Mr Sarkozy, who was a government minister at the time and a political rival of Mr Villepin within their conservative UMP party. Mr Villepin said he had done nothing wrong. "At no moment did I take part in any political manoeuvring," he said after...

You don't know what could be down there, sometimes. Sometimes you do know, because some people won't flush a toilet -- sometimes three or four people in a row, apparently. There's no doubt what's down there then. But that's another problem. The problem here is that you never know what else might turn up under a toilet seat: Spiders, snakes, wasps, scorpions, possibly even tarantulas, which would come under "spiders" if they weren't as big as rats, which by the way also turn up in toilets. I've heard such rat tales. And I've heard a snake tale, too -- about...

One giant leap for frogkind BY DAVE BARRY (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published June 8, 1997.) Get ready to dance naked in the streets, because scientists have finally done something that humanity has long dreamed about, but most of us thought would never happen within our lifetimes. That's right: They have levitated a frog. I swear I am not making this up. According to an Associated Press article sent in by a number of alert readers, British and Dutch scientists ''have succeeded in floating a frog in air.'' They did this by using magnetism, which, as you...