Severed rattlesnake head bites Texas man, nearly kills him

- A Texas man is recovering after he claims the head of a rattlesnake bit him — moments after he had just cut it off.

Jennifer Sutcliffe's husband was reportedly bitten by the beheaded snake on May 27 at his home near Lake Corpus Christi.

Sutcliffe told KIII-TV the two were doing yard work when she came across the four-foot rattlesnake. She said her husband used a shovel to behead the snake, but when he went to dispose of it, it bit him.

The snake, Sutcliffe said, "released all its venom into him at that point" because it no longer had a body, and her husband reportedly began immediately experiencing seizures and internal bleeding, and lost his vision.

The man was transported via helicopter to a hospital, where doctors said there was a chance he wouldn't make it.

Mexico imposes tariffs on $3 billion worth of US exports

CNN - In retaliation for the Trump administration announcing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Mexico and much of the rest of the world, Mexico Tuesday imposed a series of tariffs against US exports to its market valued at $3 billion. They'll hike the price of products including pork, apples, potatoes, bourbon as well as different types of cheese.

The tariffs range between 15% and 25%, and could raise the price of US goods by that amount, cutting deeply into US exports to its neighbour.

"It is necessary and urgent to impose measures equivalent to the measures implemented by" the US, said the statement issued by the Mexican government. Mexico had signaled last week that it intended to retaliate against the US steel and aluminum tariffs.

In addition to the agricultural products and bourbon, Mexico imposed tariffs on a variety of US steel products exports.

While Mexico exports more goods and services to the US than it buys, it is also the second largest market for US exports, buying $277 billion worth of US goods and services last year, according to the Commerce Department.

That put it behind only Canada in terms of the value of US exports.

The tariffs imposed Tuesday will affect just more than 1% of US exports to Mexico. But they'll have a significant impact on the targeted US industries.

For example Mexico is the largest market for US pork exports according to the National Pork Producers Council, an industry trade group. It says that 25% of US pork exports last year went to Mexico.

"A 20% tariff eliminates our ability to compete effectively in Mexico," said Jim Heimerl, the trade group's president and a pork producer from Johnstown, Ohio. "This is devastating to my family and pork producing families across the United States."

Sex robots with health benefits are a giant tease, experts warn

- If season two of Westworld doesn’t have you rethinking sex and violence with androids, researchers are hoping that some hard and fast data will.

Science fiction aside, advanced sex robots are currently heating up the market, with several companies now offering more and more life-like artificial partners, mostly ones mimicking women. Skeptics fear the desirable droids could escalate misogyny and violence against women, ignite deviant urges in pedophiles, or further isolate the sexually frustrated. Sexbot makers, on the other hand, have been pumping their health claims into advertisements, including that the amorous androids could reduce the spread of sexually transmitted disease, aid in sex therapies, and curb deviant desires in pedophiles and other sex offenders.

So far, those claims are “rather specious,” according to health researchers Chantal Cox-George of St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in London and Susan Bewley of King’s College London. In an editorial published Monday in BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health, the pair highlight that there are virtually no studies that help bang out the validity of the many health arguments surging around sexbots—arguments both for and against them.

That data dry-spell doesn’t let doctors off the hook, though, Cox-George and Bewley write. They call for researchers to get busy setting up studies that will nail the answers. In the meantime, “an absence of evidence does not excuse the medical profession from discussing and debating the issues, as there will inevitably be consequences for physical, mental and social well-being.”

With deal to close this week, Bayer to retire Monsanto name

RANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany’s Bayer (BAYGn.DE) will wrap up the $63 billion takeover of Monsanto (MON.N) on Thursday and also retire the U.S. seeds maker’s 117 year-old name.

The German drugmaker had received all required approvals from regulatory authorities, it said in a statement on Monday.

“Bayer will remain the company name. Monsanto will no longer be a company name. The acquired products will retain their brand names and become part of the Bayer portfolio,” it said.

Bayer launched a 6 billion euro ($7 billion) rights issue on Sunday, a cornerstone of the financing package for the deal, shortly after clearing the last major antitrust hurdle in the United States.

The deal is the first of a trio of major U.S.-German merger deals to cross the finish line at a time of harsh criticism by U.S. President Donald Trump of Germany’s trade surplus with the United States.

Deutsche Telekom’s (DTEGn.DE) T-Mobile US (TMUS.O) plans to merge with Sprint for $26 billion, while industrial gases makers Linde (LING.DE) and Praxair (PX.N) are also seeking to combine. ContinueReading

A 'doomsday' no-deal Brexit scenario could see Britain run out of food within days — and it only gets worse from there

LONDON — A no-deal Brexit could see Britain run out of food within days, according to a "doomsday scenario."

The UK is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019 and senior civil servants have produced three alternative scenarios — "a mild one, a severe one, and one dubbed 'Armageddon'" — for David Davis, the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU.

The Sunday Times reports that Whitehall "has begun contingency planning for the Port of Dover to collapse 'on day one'."

The Port of Dover, the nearest English port to France, is responsible for handling approximately 17% of the UK's trade in goods, so if Britain crashed out of the EU with no deal and the port collapsed, it could lead to a desperate shortage of essential supplies.

A Sunday Times source said: "In the second scenario, not even the worst, the port of Dover will collapse on day one. The supermarkets in Cornwall and Scotland will run out of food within a couple of days, and hospitals will run out of medicines within two weeks."

The UK may even have to enlist the help of the Royal Air Force to shuttle supplies to the more remote areas of the country.

"You would have to medevac medicine into Britain, and at the end of week two we would be running out of petrol as well," the source added.

A spokesman for the Department of Exiting the EU confirmed discussions on different scenarios had occurred but said claims of a "doomsday" outcome becoming reality were "completely false."

"A significant amount of work and decision making has gone into our no deal plans, especially where it relates to ports, and we know that none of this would come to pass," the spokesman said.

Saudi threatens military action if Qatar deploys anti-aircraft missiles - report

PARIS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has threatened to take military action if Qatar installs a Russian air defence system, France’s Le Monde newspaper reported.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar last year, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism, which it denies.

Qatar and Russia signed an agreement on military and technical cooperation last year. Qatar’s ambassador to Russia was quoted as saying in January that it was in talks to buy the Russian S-400 missile air defence systems.

Le Monde said that Saudi King Salman had written a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, expressing his profound concern over negotiations between Doha and Moscow and the possibility that Qatar could deploy the missiles.

“The kingdom would be ready to take all necessary measures to eliminate this defence system, including military action,” Le Monde quoted the letter to Macron as saying. It said the letter had been sent “recently”, but was not more specific.

Salman asked Macron for his assistance to prevent the sale of the missiles and preserve peace in the region, Le Monde said.

The French president’s office and the Saudi government’s communications office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mariano Rajoy: Spanish PM forced out of office

BBC - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been forced out of office by a no-confidence vote in parliament.

Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, who filed the motion after Mr Rajoy's party was implicated in a corruption scandal, will become prime minister.

"We're going to sign a new page in the history of democracy in our country," Mr Sánchez said ahead of Friday's vote.

Mr Rajoy is the first prime minister in modern Spanish history to be defeated in a no-confidence motion.

The leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP) has been prime minister since 2011.

During the second day of debate on Friday, Mr Rajoy admitted facing defeat and told MPs that it has been "an honour to leave a better Spain than I found".

Mr Sánchez secured a majority in the vote after gaining support from various smaller parties, including the Basque Nationalist Party - 180 MPs backed the motion, 169 voted against, with one abstention. ContinueReading