Khalid Hassen, who had shot dead more than 17 000 African crocodiles in a hunting career, which had spanned over four decades, said: "I'm very upset to hear about it. I know that he led a dangerous life, but it just doesn't seem right that a fish should kill him... It is an unfitting death for him. "I'm a hunter, I'm a killer" Hassen, a successful Malawian businessman, had probably killed more crocodiles than anyone else, but he said he had huge respect for Irwin and his non-lethal methods of trapping the big reptiles.
Hassen, who hunted at night by boat with a heavy calibre rifle in the waterways of southern Malawi, where dozens of peasants are attacked each year by man-eating crocodiles, said: "He was a conservationist and I'm a hunter, I'm a killer." Full Article
The majestic coral structures that make up the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef extend over 2,500 kilometres. It has the most diverse animal and plant ecosystems on earth. Watch A Video Here
The U.S. State Department issued the following Travel Warning with regard to the continued threat of terrorism in Sudan, which reads in part: "This Travel Warning for Sudan reminds U.S. citizens of the continued threat of terrorism in Sudan and stresses the importance of obtaining proper travel documents before attempting entry into any part of the country. This supersedes the Travel Warning issued for Sudan on 6 February 2006. The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens against all travel to Sudan, particularly in the Darfur area where there is a continuing buildup of Government and rebel military forces and where violence has increased significantly.
The Department continues to remind travelers that the U.S. Government has received indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in Sudan. Terrorist actions may include suicide operations, bombings, or kidnappings. U.S. citizens should be aware of the risk of indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets in public places, which include tourist sites and locations where westerners are known to congregate, and commercial operations associated with U.S. or Western interests.
As physical security remains high at official facilities, terrorists may turn towards softer targets, such as residential compounds. Sporadic fighting instigated by militias is often reported in the southern parts of the country. Travel outside of the capital city of Khartoum is potentially dangerous. Threats have been made against foreigners working in the oil industry in Upper Nile state. As a result of violence and banditry, the United Nations has declared many parts of Darfur "No-Go" areas for UN personnel.
Due to the potential for banditry and general lawlessness in rural areas, land travel at night should be avoided….Failure to possess the appropriate travel documents and permits can result in the traveler's arrest and detention for multiple crimes, including illegal entry, publication of false information, and espionage. If convicted, sentences range from deportation to life in prison or the death penalty…"
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Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44. News Articles
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FOOTAGE of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin being fatally gored by a stingray has been handed to police, according to media report.
The Australian reports that the footage shows that Irwin was swimming above a 2.5m stingray before it turned on him.
"The ray stopped and turned and that was it," boatowner Peter West, who viewed the footage afterwards, is quoted as saying in tomorrow's edition of The Australian newspaper.
"Something happened with this animal and made it rear and he was in the wrong position at the wrong time and if it hit him anywhere else we would not be talking about a fatality," Mr West says in the report.
The larger-than-life Irwin, 44, was off Port Douglas in far north Queensland, filming for his daughter Bindi's TV series.
Tonight his manager admitted he always feared that Irwin would meet his "demise" while working with the wildlife he loved.
But John Stainton said although Irwin got into plenty of "close shaves" with his antics involving various dangerous animals over the years, his star charge never feared death.
"You think about all the documentaries we've made and all the dangerous situations that we have been in, you always think 'Is this it, is this a day that maybe is his demise?'," he said in Cairns.
"We've been in some pretty close shaves.
"(But) nothing would ever scare Steve or would worry him. He didn't have a fear of death at all."
Mr Stainton, who was producing the underwater documentary, said Irwin died instantly.
He said Irwin had gone "over the top of a stingray and a stingray's barb went up and went into his chest and put a hole into his heart''.
Mr Stainton said Irwin had been rushed back to his research vessel at Batt Reef but had not regained consciousness despite desperate attempts to revive him.
"We got him back within a couple of minutes to Croc One, which is his research vessel,'' Mr Stainton said.
"We tried to quickly trip back to Low Isle where we were going to meet the emergency rescue people to do immediate and constant CPR, try and resuscitate him back into life.
"When we got there it was probably ten to 12, and by 12 o'clock when the emergency crew arrived they pronounced him dead.
"It's likely that he possibly died instantly when the barb hit him, and I don't think that he ... felt any pain.''
Mr Stainton, an old friend who has worked with Irwin for years, added that the star had been looking for "things that can kill you in the sea".
"We were in the Cairns, Port Douglas area shooting a documentary for Animal Planet called Ocean's Deadliest, which was basically looking at things that can kill you in the sea," he said.
"This morning Steve decided to shoot a couple of segments for a new TV show that he's doing with his daughter Bindi, and with the cameramen went out onto the reef ... to film a segment on stingrays.''
It is not believed Bindi, eight, was on the reef trip.
Paramedics flown to the boat found Irwin had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
