Leopard causes chaos in India. Breaks into India Hospital

A leopard leaps across a construction site near a furniture market in the Degumpur residential area in Meerut, India on Sunday. The leopard sparked panic in the Indian city when it strayed into a hospital, a theater and an apartment complex before evading captors.
District magistrate Pankaj Yadav said: “We have closed schools and colleges in the town because we are unable to locate the leopard and do not want to take any chances. This is only a precautionary measure.

We are yet to locate the leopard. We have got calls from some areas but are still unable to trace its exact location.”

Officials said they were investigating reports that it had strayed into Meerut from the nearby forests.

Rescue teams of wildlife experts have been called in to help tranquilize and capture the animal, officials said.

There are no reliable population estimates for leopards in India, but rough estimates put their number at about 10,000.

Tigers and other big cats have been known to stray into populated areas and conservationists have warned that such confrontations may increase as humans encroach on animal habitats.

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whistleblower Edward Snowden wins prestigious University role in Scotland

whistleblower Edward Snowden has been elected to the post of student rector at Glasgow University in Scotland, one of Britain's oldest universities.

Snowden, living in temporary asylum in Russia after disclosing U.S. government secrets on surveillance programs and other activities, faces criminal charges in the United States after fleeing last year first to Hong Kong and then Russia.

The former National Security Agency contractor was nominated for the post by a group of students at the university after receiving Snowden's approval through his lawyer.

University officials said the computer analyst beat three other candidates in an online vote that attracted a record turnout to win the three-year role of rector at the university, which dates back to 1451.

The rector is meant to represent student issues to university officials but it has previously served a political designation, having been held by Winnie Mandela in 1987 and Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu in 2005.

Chris Cassells, Snowden's spokesman for the campaign, said Glasgow University had a "proud and virtuous tradition" of making significant statements through its rectors.

"Today we have once more championed this idea by proving to the world that we are not apathetic to important issues such as democratic rights," Cassells said in a statement.

Snowden, in a statement to Britain's Guardian newspaper, said he was "humbled and honoured" by the vote, describing it as a bold and historic decision in support of academic freedom.

"In a world where so many of our developing thoughts and queries and plans must be entrusted to the open internet, mass surveillance is not simply a matter of privacy, but of academic freedom and human liberty," Snowden said.

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