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A golden jackal (Canis anthus) from Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Based on genomic results, the researchers suggest this animal be referred to as the African golden wolf, which is distinct from the Eurasian golden jackal (Canis aureus). Credit: D. Gordon E. Robertson ======================================================================================================================= Despite their remarkably similar appearance, the "golden jackals" of East Africa and Eurasia are actually two entirely different species. The discovery, based on DNA evidence and reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on July 30, increases the overall biodiversity of the Canidae—the group including dogs, wolves, foxes, and jackals—from 35 living species to 36. "This...

PARIS (Reuters) - Carlos the Jackal, the Marxist militant once ranked among the world's most wanted criminals, launched an appeal on Monday against a life sentence for bomb attacks that killed 11 people three decades ago. The Venezuelan defendant, 63, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, has been locked up in France for almost 20 years serving an initial life sentence in a separate case for killing two police officers and an informant in Paris in 1975. The Paris hearing was suspended as Ramirez demanded new lawyers and accused the Venezuelan state of seeking to sabotage his defense by...

Deep in the heart of the English countryside, just outside Aldershot in Hampshire, the calm of a hot spring morning is shattered by the roar of a 5.9 litre diesel engine. The Jackal 2 is the upgraded version of the Army's weapons mounted patrol vehicle and is making its public debut. Its predecessor - The Jackal - was deployed to Afghanistan in April 2008 to provide British forces with an off-road vehicle that could travel long distances, provide fire support when needed and, importantly, could offer a degree of protection against small arms fire and roadside bombs and so-called improvised...

In an interview with The Times, President Obama opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to elements of the Taliban.

Only a month into his new administration, and Obama already has two new pen pals, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, aka Carlos the Jackal. That doesn't include Hamas, with whom Obama's seemingly telepathic connection requires no written communication at all. A thankful Carlos the Jackal sent Obama a note letting him know that jailed terrorists all over the world support Obama's decision to close Gitmo, signed "yours in revolution." Do you hear that whooshing sound? That is America's position of integrity and strength in the world in free-fall.

For two decades until his capture in 1994, Carlos the Jackal murdered, bombed and kidnapped his way to infamy, retaining the title of world’s most dangerous terrorist before Osama Bin Laden stole his crown. But speaking from the Clair-vaux prison in northeast France last week he berated terrorist cells said to have targeted Britain, criticising them for plotting to kill ordinary people. In his first telephone interview with a newspaper, the Venezue-lan-born Vladimir Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, 57, said he was saddened by any loss of life in London, where he lived as a young man. He also attacked what he...

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez brought up Carlos the Jackal during a meeting of oil producers Thursday, calling the Venezuela-born terrorist who once took hostages at an OPEC meeting "a good friend." Carlos, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, gained notoriety during the Cold War for staging a string of bombings and assassinations. He is serving a life sentence for murder in France. Chavez recalled in his speech how Ramirez once in a letter referred to the Venezuelan leader's 1999 tour of OPEC member states. He said Carlos, "a good friend," said in the missive from his...

THE terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal is again refusing food to protest against conditions in prison, where he is serving a life sentence, one of his lawyers said today. The Venezuelan, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, stopped eating last Wednesday and said he will continue the strike "as long as necessary," attorney Isabelle Coutant Peyre said by telephone. She said he is protesting against being kept in isolation, "provocative and unjustifiable" body and cell searches, and authorities' refusal to let him access his prison bank account for food and other necessities. He is imprisoned at a high-security...