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Vernon Byrd was on an all-terrain vehicle in a field off Johnson Road last Tuesday when he said an 8-foot-long snake reared up beside him – and the serpent's head was about shoulder high to him. "I caught something out of my eye, and this snake comes up beside me and looked at me," Byrd said. "I've seen every kind of snake in this part of the country, but I've never seen a snake like this." He called Freddie Mims, a licensed wildlife rescue agent, who said the description of the snake sounded like a king cobra, the world's largest...

Zambian Hopeful Takes a Swing at ChinaPresidential Challenger Stirs Resentment at Asian Power’s Growing Influence in AfricaBy Joseph J. SchatzSpecial to The Washington PostMonday, September 25, 2006; A16LUSAKA, Zambia — Making a living is never easy in Kamwala, the cramped, grimy but bustling marketplace in downtown Lusaka, where Nally, a middle-aged mother of five, has been selling clothes out of a small wooden stall for the past 15 years.But things took a turn for the worse, she said, when the Chinese moved in down the block a few years ago.Chinese retailers operating in Kamwala have undercut her prices and lured...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A former Malaysian snake farm worker may have set a new world record after kissing a poisonous snake 51 times in three minutes, a report said. Shahimi Abdul Hamid's feat in kissing the 4.6 metre (14 feet) long King Cobra weighing 10 kilograms (22 pounds) 51 times in three minutes and one second was a record waiting to be verified, the Sunday Star newspaper said. Records showed that Gordon Cates from Florida, the United States kissed 11 cobras without a time limit in September 1999. Cates had used an iron bar to protect himself while Shahimi...

Snake charmers have given the all clear for US President George W. Bush to go ahead with plans to deliver a speech from a medieval fort here during his three day India visit. City police roped in the snake charmers after curators of Purana Qila expressed concern that reptiles would gatecrash Bush's scheduled address Friday from the 16th century ramshackle fort. "It was part of our drill to sanitise the fort as it is flanked by a porous zoo on one side and a large lake on the other and the president will be delivering his address from a lawn...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A kiss is just a kiss, but it may prove to be the kiss of death for a Malaysian snake charmer who will attempt to set a new world record by planting 50 smooches on a venomous snake in 10 minutes. Shahimi Abdul Hamid, 33, will perform the dangerous feat on March 11 in a bid to break the current record held by an American man who kissed a poisonous snake 30 times in an unspecified time, the national news agency Bernama said Thursday. Shahini has urged Malaysians to support him in his endeavor, saying he...

NICOSIA (Reuters) - A snake handler in Cyprus was fighting for his life Tuesday after a king cobra bit the hand that fed him, authorities said. The hooded snake bit his master when the man, 43, stuck his hand into a cage holding food at a traditional Cypriot religious festival attended by thousands of people Monday evening. Poison from the king cobra, the longest venomous snake in the world, is highly toxic and can kill within minutes. The man was taken to a hospital where he was placed on a ventilator. Attacks by king cobras, indigenous to the Indian sub...