NightBlogger

Times Online
She robs, she injects herself with heroin, she seems to kill with almost professional precision – and, as far as German detectives are concerned, she has no identity. The hunt for the woman known as the Phantom of Heilbronn has been stepped up after the discovery of new traces of her DNA in a blood-stained white Ford Escort. “The noose is tightening,” Erwin Hetger, the chief of police in Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany, said. For 15 years a mysterious woman has been leaving traces of her DNA at crime scenes across Europe, suggesting her involvement in at least six murders and scores of break-ins. Rarely are there witnesses. Instead, police in the countries where she has been roaming – Germany, France and Austria – have had to piece together a profile from saliva left on biscuits nibbled at the site of a murder, a discarded cigarette packet and a spot of blood. She may flit across borders like a ghost but she has been leaving a trail behind her. A human being loses on average four hairs in an hour and sheds a million dead cells in 40 minutes: that forensic scence harvest is all the police have to go on. More
Also See: Junkie’s needle may lead to woman serial killer they call the Phantom
Germany hunts phantom killer

A new book of photographs by his friend Barry Feinstein takes us behind the scenes during Dylan’s first electric tour of Europe.

Scotland, 1966
In the book, photographer Weinstein writes of his relationship with Dylan: “Bob and I were friends long before we worked together. We hung out and understood each other. When there was something to say we would talk, when there wasn’t we were silent. We were similar in that way, no bulls___.” More

July 4 (Bloomberg) — European stocks dropped, capping their fifth weekly decline, on concern banks will post more writedowns and near-record oil will curb airlines’ profits. Canada’s benchmark index and most shares in Brazil and Asia also fell. The fifth straight weekly drop is the longest losing streak since a seven- week slump ending Jan. 25. “Markets around the world have had a rough ride and news flow remains challenging,” said Andreas Nigg, head of international equities Vontobel Asset Management in Zurich, which oversees $39 billion. “The banks are not in good shape, and it will get harder to raise capital. Oil is still going up. It’s like a tax that keeps getting worse.” More

France 24
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday called for a Europe-wide cut in oil taxes to help consumers, as fuel price strikes by fishermen and truck drivers spread across the continent.

As French riot police cleared blockading fishermen from an oil depot, in London hundreds of angry haulage truckers drove their lorries in a rolling protest through the centre of the capital, horns blaring, before handing in a petition to Downing Street demanding a rebate in fuel tax.

In Spain lorry drivers joined striking fishermen in calling for the government help to cover soaring fuel costs, before road transport firm bosses meet transport ministry officials to air their grievances.

Italian, Greek and Portuguese fishermen may strike later this week.

Portugal’s economy minister Manuel Pinho on Tuesday wrote to the Slovenian head of the European Union to hold an urgent debate on how to respond to high oil prices, to identify “short- and long-term measures that could minimise the negative effect of the escalation in oil prices”. More

abc.net.au
The European Commission has approved the first human vaccine for bird flu, manufactured by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.

The vaccine, Prepandrix, activates an immune response in people to the H5N1 virus.

GlaxoSmithKline, the biggest drug maker in Europe, has spent about $2 billion developing the vaccine and hopes that the approval will prompt fresh orders of Prepandrix from governments around the world looking to build stockpiles.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Like the rumble of distant thunder, bird flu continues to spread across Asia, Africa and Europe. Although it’s been out of the news lately in the United States, scientists say that avian influenza, as it’s also known, remains a serious threat to human and animal health.

The lethal H5N1 version of the virus is mutating rapidly and rampaging through bird flocks throughout those parts of the world, infecting and often killing people who come in contact with them.

The fear is that the virus will change into a form that makes human-to-human transmission quick and easy. At least seven slightly different subtypes already have been identified. Read more

Pic courtesy of oddsock
With the uncertain economy and falling dollar, many would-be travelers rule out vacation abroad or exotic destinations of their dreams because they simply can’t afford it. What if you could room for free anywhere in the world. Meet The Couchsurfing Project., “a free international Internet-based hospitality service, and currently the largest hospitality exchange network. As of April 2008, it had more than 500,000 members in 226 countries and territories, with 40 percent offering their couches to host travelers, another 22 percent saying “maybe”, and others who are traveling themselves”.

“We strive to make a better world,” it says on the website, “by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world!”
Check it out