The lieutenant colonel’s wife was also in the car at the moment of the blast and was badly injured, local media reported.
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Laughing Kookaburra (Jackass)
Scientific Name: Dacelo novaeguineae
The laughing kookaburra was first described and illustrated (in black and white) by the French naturalist and explorer Pierre Sonnerat in his Voyage à la nouvelle Guinée which was published in 1776. He claimed to have seen the bird in New Guinea. In fact Sonnerat never visited New Guinea and the laughing kookaburra does not occur there. He probably obtained a preserved specimen from one of the naturalists who accompanied Captain James Cook to the east coast of Australia. Edme-Louis Daubenton and François-Nicolas Martinet included a coloured plate of the laughing kookaburra based on Sonnerat's specimen in their Planches enluminées d'histoire naturelle. The plate has the legend in French "Martin-pecheur, de la Nouvelle Guinée" (Kingfisher from New Guinea). In 1783 the French naturalist Johann Hermann provided a formal description of the species based the coloured plate by Daubenton and Martinet. He gave it the scientific name Alcedo novæ Guineæ. The current genus Dacelo was introduced in 1815 by the English zoologist William Elford Leach, and is an anagram of Alcedo, the Latin word for a kingfisher. The specific name novaeguineae combines the Latin novus for new with Guinea, based on the erroneous belief that the specimen had originated from New Guinea. For many years it was believed that the earliest description was by the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert and his scientific name Dacelo gigas was used in the scientific literature but in 1926 the Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews showed that a description by Hermann had been published earlier in the same year, 1783, and thus had precedence. In the 19th century this species was commonly called the "laughing jackass", a name first recorded (as Laughing Jack-Ass) in An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales by David Collins which was published in 1798. In 1858 the ornithologist John Gould used "great brown kingfisher", a name that had been coined by John Latham in 1782. Another popular name was "laughing kingfisher". The name in several Australian indigenous languages were listed by European authors including Go-gan-ne-gine by Collins in 1878, Cuck'anda by René Lesson in 1828 and Gogera or Gogobera by George Bennett in 1834. In the early years of the 20th century "kookaburra" was included as an alternative name in ornithological publications but it was not until 1926 in the second edition of the Official Checklist of Birds of Australia that the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union officially adopted the name "laughing kookaburra". The name comes from Wiradhuri, an Aboriginal language now effectively extinct.
Description: The Laughing Kookaburra is instantly recognisable in both plumage and voice. It is generally off-white below, faintly barred with dark brown, and brown on the back and wings. The tail is more rufous, broadly barred with black. There is a conspicuous dark brown eye-stripe through the face. It is one of the larger members of the kingfisher family.
Similar species: Identification may only be confused where the Laughing Kookaburra's range overlaps that of the Blue-winged Kookaburra, Dacelo leachii, in eastern Queensland. The call of the Blue-winged Kookaburra is coarser than that of the Laughing Kookaburra, and ends somewhat abruptly. The Blue-winged Kookaburra lacks the brown eye-stripe, has a blue tail and a large amount of blue in the wing, and has a pale eye.
Distribution: Laughing Kookaburras are found throughout eastern Australia. They have been introduced to Tasmania, the extreme south-west of Western Australia, and New Zealand. Replaced by the Blue-winged Kookaburra in central northern and north-western Australia, with some overlap in Queensland, although this species is more coastal.
Habitat: The Laughing Kookaburra inhabits most areas where there are suitable trees.
Feeding: Laughing Kookaburras feed mostly on insects, worms and crustaceans, although small snakes, mammals, frogs and birds may also be eaten. Prey is seized by pouncing from a suitable perch. Small prey is eaten whole, but larger prey is killed by bashing it against the ground or tree branch.
Breeding: Laughing Kookaburras are believed to pair for life. The nest is a bare chamber in a naturally occurring tree hollow or in a burrow excavated in an arboreal (tree-dwelling) termite mound. Both sexes share the incubation duties and both care for the young. Other Laughing Kookaburras, usually offspring of the previous one to two years, act as 'helpers' during the breeding season. Every bird in the group shares all parenting duties.
Calls: The chuckling voice that gives this species its name is a common and familiar sound throughout the bird's range. The loud 'koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-kaa-kaa-kaa' is often sung in a chorus with other individuals. The Laughing Kookaburra also has a shorter 'koooa The Laughing Kookaburra is not really laughing when it makes its familiar call. The cackle of the Laughing Kookaburra is actually a territorial call to warn other birds to stay away.
Minimum Size: 40cm
Maximum Size: 45cm
Average size: 42cm
Average weight: 340g
Breeding season: August to January
(Sources: www.birdsinbackyards.net and Wikipedia)
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© Chris Burns 2026
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Crown Prince Haakon’s wife, Mette-Marit, corresponded with late US sex offender between 2011 and 2014, long after he was convicted
King Harald V of Norway has died at the age of 89, the palace in Oslo has announced, triggering the succession of his son, Haakon, whose wife Mette-Marit’s association with Jeffrey Epstein has sparked fierce recent controversy.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce that His Majesty King Harald passed away today. King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday, August 28 at 6.35 am,” the palace said in a statement.
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It’s a familiar pile of B-movie schlock – serial killers, missing children, bumps in the night, more imaginary friends – and there is some initial junky fun to be had as we wonder just where it all might be headed. I was hoping for a destination a little more deranged or vaguely surprising, the film making a silent promise that we’re hurtling toward somewhere wildly unexpected before dumping us in a ditch instead.
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Continue reading...Having directed documentaries about David Bowie, Radiohead and Joy Division, Grant Gee takes on a biopic of the turbulent and tragic American pianist
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Het officiële dodental is opgelopen tot 469, al voelt het aan de hand van de talloze beelden waarschijnlijk dat dit nog op z'n minst gaat verviervoudigen. Al is het maar omdat er tot nu toe ook 540 toeristen uit 31 landen als vermist opgegeven zijn. Onder de vermisten begeven zich ook twee Nederlanders. Kortom, het is al een godsonmogelijke ramp, maar nu stijgt de kans ook nog eens aanzienlijk dat de regio ge-double tapped gaat worden, want er staan twee nieuwe gletsjermeren op barsten. Nepal zet de reddingsoperaties zelfs stop terwijl autoriteiten zich schrap zetten voor een nieuwe overstroming: "De autoriteiten in Nepal hebben de reddingsoperaties voor de komende 90 minuten opgeschort, zo meldde een legerofficier vrijdag, nadat er berichten waren binnengekomen dat een meer achter een dam in het door overstromingen getroffen gebied was begonnen over te lopen. Volgens een getuige van Reuters werden reddingsacties per helikopter in het getroffen district Rasuwa stopgezet en zag men lokale bewoners haastig de heuvel op vluchten." En Chinese autoriteiten doen hetzelfde aan de Tibetaanse kant van de grens: "China heeft een reddingsoperatie opgeschort vanwege het grote risico op nieuwe overstromingen in Tibet, waar nog steeds honderden mensen worden vermist na de dodelijke modderstroom in het grensgebied. De staatsomroep CCTV meldde dat een meer, gevormd door enorme hoeveelheden puin, was begonnen over te stromen in de richting van het gebied waar reddingsteams naartoe onderweg waren." Meer ondoenlijke beelden na de breek, we blijven kijken.
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SocialI’m guessing that since we have the video the person filming survived, but only through sheer luck. Survival instincts of a potato. There will be apocalypse selfies. pic.twitter.com/MVUXe2UnOW
— Philip Taborek (@PhilipTaborek) August 26, 2026
Gewoon weggevaagd (zie video eronder)
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