BERLIN (Reuters) - A fawn-colored baby rabbit tipped for fame in Germany as he was born without ears was accidentally trampled and killed by a cameraman who had come to a zoo to film him, German media reported this week. "I can't believe it. The rabbit was so sweet. It is a huge tragedy," zoo manager Uwe Dempewolf told Bild newspaper. The rabbit, due to be named "Til", had hopped behind the cameraman during filming in his small hay-strewn stall at the zoo in Limbach-Oberfrohna, and was crushed as the cameraman took a step backwards. Several German animals have become international celebrities in recent years, including polar bear Knut, who was hand-reared as a cub at Berlin Zoo, and Paul, an octopus who correctly predicted the results of each of Germany's World Cup soccer matches and accurately tipped Spain to beat the Netherlands in the final. Til's death recalls that of another German star-in-the-making, a squirrel named "Cinderella", who died in 2005 after also being trampled on accidentally by a German television reporter. (Reporting by Alexandra Hudson, editing by Paul Casciato) Top seeds China and hosts Germany booked their places in Saturday's semi-finals of the men's world team table tennis championships by recording commanding last eight victories. China's Zhang Jike, Ma Lin and Ma Long showed Austria no mercy in Friday's quarter-final as the defending champions romped to a 3-0 victory while Germany also blasted past Sweden with a clean-sweep. For a place in Sunday's final, the Germans will now play Japan, who beat Singapore 3-1 in their quarter-final, while China take on South Korea, who beat Taiwan 3-1 in the last eight. "We are happy to have a 3-0 win, but it will be tense against Japan," said Germany's Timo Boll. During the team semi-finals at the Beijing Olympics, Germany dug deep to beat the Japanese 3-2 before losing the final to China 3-0 and Boll said he had strong memories of the semi-final four years ago. "That was the most emotional moment in my career," he said. "Japan are another calibre. Jun Mitsutani is very strong, he has extremely good serves. "They have a good team spirit and are really hard to beat." In the women's competition, China romped into the last four with a clinical 3-0 win over Poland, while Hong Kong also blitzed the Netherlands by the same margin and will meet the Chinese in Saturday's semi-finals An astounding recovery by Kim Kyung Ah clinched victory for South Korea against Japan as she sealed a 3-2 win over Kasumi Ishikawa with a battling display. "I am very happy and tired," said Kim Kyung Ah, whose team will now meet defending champions Singapore in Saturday's other semi-final after they knocked the Germans out with a 3-2 victory. "It was a very tough match but when we won the third game, we knew we can make it." The world championships doubles as an Olympic qualifier with London places up for grabs for the highest-ranked nation from each of the six continents. DUBAI (Reuters) - The closure of the Yemen LNG terminal, after its feed pipeline was blown up on Friday night, is expected to cut its super-cooled gas exports by about four cargoes, the operator said in a statement. Gunemn blew up the 38 inch gas pipeline that links Yemen's block 18 to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Balhaf on the Gulf of Aden in retaliation for a U.S. drone attack that killed at least five suspected al Qaeda militants hours earlier. "Yemen LNG confirms the sabotage," Yemen LNG, which is run by France's Total , said in a statement late on Friday. "Production has stopped but the loss of production is expected to be limited to four cargoes as the LNG plant was due to shutdown on April 15 for annual maintenance." The $4.5 billion plant -- the impoverished country's biggest industrial complex -- was also forced to close in October 2011 after its feed line was blown up by suspected Al Qaeda militants. But the quick repair of the pipeline and the rescheduling of annual maintenance at the terminal to coincide with the repairs allowed Yemen LNG to deliver all the 106 LNG cargoes it agreed to sell last year. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ EIA on Yemen: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Yemen/Full.html Map of Yemen energy: http://link.reuters.com/kyt62s ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The attacks on Yemen LNG's supplies follow a series of attacks on oil pipelines which have intensified the country's economic crisis since early 2011. Although attacks and labor disputes have disrupted Yemeni oil exports, which amount to less than 0.5 percent of global supply, several times, the closure of Yemen's 6.7 million tonne (6.6 million tons) per year LNG export terminal is more significant for energy markets. Protecting pipelines in a sparsely-populated, mountainous and increasingly lawless country is difficult, leaving Yemen LNG highly exposed to further attacks. The company delivers LNG - gas cooled to liquid for export by ship - under long term contracts to GDF Suez , Total and Korea Gas Corp <036460.KS>. (Reporting by Daniel Fineren, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher) |
