Bloody and violent days rage on in Egypt – Ecuador says it has no choice but to drill for oil in an Amazon wildlife park – Hundreds are missing in the sinking of a Philippine Ferry – And everyone already knew it, but now the CIA admits it.

At least 80 people were killed in the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Day of Rage”, as supporters clashed with Egypt’s military and police.  It comes two days after the military killed at least 638 Brotherhood supporters in a battle that grew out of the military’s attempt to clear two Brotherhood sit-ins.  Even with the mounting death toll amongst its supporters, the Muslim Brotherhood said that there would be a week of daily rallies across Egypt.

The uneasy peace between Egypt’s Christians and Muslims is gone with unprecedented attacks on churches and Christians themselves.  The Christian rights group the Maspero Youth Union says at least 32 Egyptian Christian churches have been “destroyed, burned, or looted” in the past few days.  Christian-owned shops and schools have not escaped the violence either, as many Muslim Brotherhood attackers believe the Christian community is sympathetic or complicit in the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi.

Ecuador’s president blames the west for forcing his hand:  Rafael Correa approved oil exploration in Yasuni National Park, a pristine corner of the Amazon rainforest.  Cash-poor but resource-rich Ecuador had a deal to protect the rainforest, if the world’s developed nations would pay 50 percent of what the oil beneath Yasuni would have gotten on the market.  But the world only coughed up US$13 Million of the $3.6 Billion goal.  Environmentalists are rightly concerned about the degradation of Yasuni, which has more biodiversity of trees than the entire continent of North America.

Hundreds are missing after a ferry collided with a cargo ship and sank off the Philippines.  Many people were rescued, but 280 are unaccounted for and at least 24 are confirmed dead.  It happened at about 21:00 local time, and many passengers were confused and disoriented in the darkness.

Somalia is suffering an “explosive” outbreak of polio and now has more cases than the rest of the world combined, according to the UN World Health Organization.  Vaccination campaigns in Somalia have reached 4 million people since the outbreak began in May, but they can’t get to 600,000 kids in areas controlled by Al Qaeda and other Islamist militants.  Somalia has 105 confirmed cases, and 10 more in a Somali refugee camp across the border in Kenya.

82 children being forced to serve as child soldiers have been rescued, according to the UN peacekeeping mission in the chaotic Democratic Republic of Congo.  Half have already been reunited with their families.  The children had been forcibly “drafted” by the Mai Mai Bakata Katanga militia, but they were not forgotten.  Several child protection agencies worked with the UN to identify the kids so they could be separated from the militia.

Four people were hurt in two separate Grizzly Bear attacks in and around America’s majestic Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.  All were treated and released from hospital.  Grizzly attacks have increased as the wild population rebounded thanks to conservation efforts, but four attacks in one day is a wee bit rare.  Two hikers were charged and bit by a Grizzly sow in the park; rangers determined she was just defending her cubs and would not be tracked and killed for normal behavior.  Later in the day, two federal wildlife workers were attacked under similar circumstances.

The US Central Intelligence Agency is finally acknowledging what everyone in the world already knows:  There’s an air base called “Area 51” in the Nevada Desert.  Not that it was much of a secret, Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush made glancing references, Nevada named a passing road the “Extraterrestrial Highway”, and tacky tourist shops and restaurants nearby are decorated with UFO themes.  Heck, it’s even on Google maps.  But the newly declassified documents make no mention of alien autopsies or captured UFOs.  Maybe because they don’t exist.  Or do they?

Holy smokes, that's a big Halibut!