Free Republic

<p>Germany has allowed the sale of 200 Leopard tanks to Saudi Arabia after decades of blocking heavy weapons sales to the kingdom, the Der Spiegel said Saturday.</p> <p>The federal security council approved the sale last week, the weekly news magazine said without citing sources.</p>

A 7-year-old boy is hospitalized after being attacked by a leopard at the Sedgwick County Zoo. Dispatchers said the call came in just before 1:30. Zoo officials said the boy climbed a guardrail to get closer to the leopard cage. The leopard was able to reach the child with both of its paws, injuring the boy on his neck. The boy suffered wounds on his neck and face. The zoo official said people riding the zoo tram saw the attack, jumped off and scared the leopard away. Via Christi on St. Francis reports that the child is now in fair...

Srinagar, Jan 17, KONS: A Kulgam villager battled a leopard bare-handed for twenty minutes in a desperate but brave fight for life, and was left with deep wounds in his face and chest in the ordeal. The leopard from nearby forests had pounced on 47-year-old Israeel Gorsi in the Batpora area, some 20 km from Kulgam town, when he was working in his compound, with the clear intention to kill, reports said. But Gorsi fought off the attack unaided for nearly half-an-hour, and his screams brought villagers to the scene, on seeing whom the beast tried to drag its bleeding...

Spain and Saudi Arabia negotiate 3 billion euro arms deal Interest in the tanks date back to a visit by King Juan Carlos to Jeddah in 2008, since when there have been regular contacts between the Spanish manufacturers and the Saudi Defence ministry. Spain and Saudi Arabia negotiate 3 billion euro arms deal Spain is negotiating with Saudi Arabia what could become its biggest ever arms deal, the daily El Pais said Monday Spain is trying to conclude a 3 billion euro ($4.17 billion) arms deal with Saudi Arabia for American defense group General Dynamics Corp's Spanish affiliate, El Pais...

It's a role reversal not commonly seen, but then the cat chasing this dog is a little larger than most. Salati, a ten-month-old leopard, and her best friend, golden retriever Tommy, like nothing more than to run amok before settling down for a friendly cuddle. The odd couple were reared together at Glen Afric Country Lodge near Pretoria in South Africa.

A man carrying a leopard print stuffed animal put security officials at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on alert Tuesday night. Airport officials said the man walked into Delta Airlines' Building C at around 9:00 p.m. and was confronted by an employee who asked to see his identification badge. The man apparently responded by showing the employee the stuffed animal and saying, "This is all you need to see," according to airport officials. The man then fled. Airport police notified the Transportation Security Administration and worked with Delta security officials to look for the man in and around the building,...

Seemingly unaware of the beast towering over it, the tiny rodent grabbed at scraps of meat thrown into the African Leopard's enclosure. But instead of pouncing on the tiny intruder, the 12-year-old leopard Sheena kept her distance. After a few minutes she tried to nudge the mouse away with her nose, but the determined little guy kept chewing away until he was full.

Charges $70 for new OS, warns existing customers not to upgrade older clones Computerworld - Mac clone maker Psystar isn't waiting for a federal judge to give it the green light to sell systems with Apple's new Snow Leopard operating system, according to the company's Web site. "We support Snow Leopard on all new Psystar machines and we're already taking orders for computers with the latest OS from Apple [that] will begin to ship next week," said Psystar in an anonymous posting on its company blog Monday. Psystar's order page lists Snow Leopard as a $69.99 optional upgrade from the...

Brazil purchases 250 German Leopard tanks to guard its borders The Brazilian army purchased 250 German leopard 1 A5 tanks which will be displayed mainly along the country’s 16.000 kilometres of land and fluvial borders thus reinforcing its dissuasive capacity in the event of foreign attacks. The program is also part of the National Defence Strategy, NDS, approved last December by President Lula da Silva. The 42 tons tanks with a cannon capable of firing at a distance of four kilometres and with a unit cost of half a million US dollars, should begin arriving in Brazil in three months...

This mouse diced with death when it tucked into the lunch of a hungry leopard. Seemingly unaware of the beast towering over it, the mischievous rodent grabbed at scraps of meat thrown into the African Leopard's enclosure. But instead of pouncing on the the tiny intruder the 12-year-old leopard, called Sheena, appeared to be afraid of the daring mouse and kept her distance. At one stage she tried to nudge the mouse away with her nose, but the determined little chap carried on chewing away until he was full. The extraordinary scene was captured by photography student Casey Gutteridge at...

BAZAR-E PANJWAII, Afghanistan - After more than a year of rumbling across the bomb-scarred roads and dusty plains of southern Afghanistan, positive reviews are coming in on the 62-tonne Leopard 2 tanks used by the Canadian Forces. The Canadian army borrowed 20 Leopard A6Ms from the Germans in the summer of 2007 to quickly replace its own nearly 30-year-old Leopard tanks which were not suited for use in Afghanistan. ... The military has since completed a deal to buy an additional 100 surplus tanks from the Dutch, and will return the loaners once the newer tanks are delivered. The Leopard...

A cuddly leopard with a green afro has been unveiled as the mascot of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Zakumi World Cup 2010 Mascot The character, called Zakumi, has been given his own biography and name to reflect the country's aims and hopes. Organisers said the character was 'born' on 16 June, 1994 - the year in which apartheid ended. The date is celebrated as Youth Day to mark the 1976 Soweto uprising when young protesters struck a blow against white rule. At the mascot's introduction at a state TV studio, a performer in a Zakumi costume kicked...

Apparently, a 20-day-old behbeh Leopard kitten walked into a woman's house in India. He was all: "Got Meelks?" [Video at source.]

A rare female Amur leopard cub, born 18 November 2007, taking her first steps outside her den at Marwell Zoological park in Hampshire, Britain, 28 February 2008. She was bred as part of a European conservation breeding program, to mother leopard 'Ascha'. The cub is yet to be named. EPA/JONATHAN BRADY

Windows Vista, One Bad Year Later A year since the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft is cringing at the poor sales of the new operating system. It was initially touted as a landmark new development to reinvigorate the IT industry, prompting expectations of wide-ranging “Vista effects.” Instead, Apple’s new operating system, which now also works on PCs, is stealing the thunder. Microsoft has hurriedly responded by developing a new version of the old XP. ◆ Windows Vista flops According to market researcher Net Applications, Apple is enjoying the largest-ever share in the global operating system market with Leopard, the...

WARNINGS ARE written like a billboard all over Mitt Romney. He has used his fortune to buy the most transparently shameless act of political plastic surgery I've ever seen. His blatant flip flops on a laundry list of key issues are pure calculation to win conservative votes. His loose regard for truth puts him in league with Bill and Hillary Clinton. To measure Mitt Romney's allegiance to our party, look no further than the words of top Massachusetts Republicans who have seen him in operation over four years. Former Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci, former state treasurer Joe Malone, former state...

If you haven’t upgraded yet - don’t!I bought my first Apple computer in 1978 - the original Apple ][ - and the obvious quality of the products has kept me coming back for more. Good thing the Leopard upgrade wasn’t my first experience of Apple quality. 10.5.1 isn’t it, either.I had great hopes that the first dot release of 10.5 would fix most of the problems. Sadly, that is not the case. Most Leopard installs are trouble-free. But if you rely on your Mac to make a living, you have to ask yourself if it is worth the risk to...

This may be a crazy question but is it possible to dual boot windows XP and Mac Leopard OS?I have an empty partition on my AMD PC which I built and would like to try Leopard if this is possible.

The 10.5.1 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac. For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306907. For detailed information on security updates, please visit this website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798.

Everything's fine over at Apple, with absolutely no one complaining about the company's decision to exclude new Mac purchasers from a low cost upgrade to Mac OSX Leopard. At least, that's the impression you'd get if you were to read about subject on the Apple Leopard pre-release discussion board, where buyer complaints about the upgrade policy were immediately deleted by Apple staff. You may recall that customers who bought new Macs in August, when they were initially released, or just thereafter in September, were denied upgrade pricing, and had to pay full price for Leopard. However, customers that waited to...