Puff of Death

Woman in critical condition after eating poisonous puffer fish

HITACHINAKA, Ibaraki -- A woman who ate parts of a poisonous fugu puffer fish sold to her illegally is fighting for her life in a hospital, Ibaraki Prefectural Government officials said.

The 45-year-old woman is unconscious and in a critical condition after she ate the skin and liver of the poisonous puffer fish.

Her 52-year-old husband also ate some of the potentially deadly fish, but was not harmed.

"We've eaten fugu we bought at the same place before and never had a problem," he said. "They did tell us the skin was poisonous, though."

Sale of fugu without its poisonous parts requires a special license under the Food Hygiene Law and the fishmonger that sold to the woman did not have one. Hitachinaka public health authorities have shut down the fishmonger.

Prefectural officials said the woman bought six fugu on Jan. 11 and cooked them in a stew at her home. About three hours after the woman ate the puffer fish's skin and liver, she started complaining of a tingling in her mouth and hands. Her husband ate only the fish's flesh.

Try falling asleep after looking at this...

What

What could possibly be more entertaining then opening the penetration of my mind. Skull f*ck me for a while why don't you? Weird when you let things pour from open wounds and watch the mucky muck below. Snowflakes and orgasms, who doesn't want one? Take one for the Sabbath, suck it up on the team. Punt punches and kicking Kermits, life comes at you fast, are you in good hands? Deep elections and shallow graves, together we shall frolic.

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RCP Poll Averages

Republican Presidential Nomination

RCP Average

Huckabee

21.0%

McCain

19.7%

Giuliani

17.7%

Romney

13.3%

Thompson

10.7%

Paul

4.0%

Huckabee +1.3%

Democratic Presidential Nomination

RCP Average

Clinton

37.0%

Obama

29.3%

Edwards

18.0%

Clinton +7.7%

Kenya

Machete-attack survivor: I thought I was dead

• Story Highlights
• Man survives machete attack, says tribalism is rampant and must "be stopped"
  
• As many as 500,000 Kenyans have been affected by post-election violence
  
• An estimated 250,000 people have been driven from their homes
  
• Pastor in town where 40,000 have fled says, "We have no aid assistance"
  

MOLO, Kenya (CNN) -- Lying in a hospital bed in this rural hub of Kenya's Rift Valley, a man describes surviving two machete wounds to his head and multiple slashes to his hands. He says he was attacked by people who now live by the rules of tribalism.

John Machana survived a machete attack: "I was sure they would kill me."

"They have to be stopped," he said. "It is the work of the devil."

Nearby, another machete-attack survivor, John Machana, said he thought he was a dead man when he was attacked.

"I was sure they would kill me," he said, nursing slashes to his backside and still lying in his blood-stained clothes.

"They told me the blood in Kenya now had to be pure and clean, and they accused me of being of mixed tribal blood."

Both men are among the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans victimized by a weeklong spate of violence after the nation's disputed presidential election. Watch survivors describe their desperate situation »

The Kenyan Red Cross says it is trying to meet the needs of more than a half-million affected Kenyans, including more than 250,000 people who have been driven from their homes. Thousands are escaping ethnic violence and, while they are lucky to leave with their lives, they now have little else.

Squatting on the grass, a mother of eight cried quietly as she explained that she needs food, water, medicine and clothing for her children, including her youngest, who is just 2 weeks old. See photos of Kenya plunged into crisis »

She and her family are among an estimated 40,000 people to flee to Molo, a town on the edge of Kenya's desolate Rift Valley.

Officials in Molo say the victims just keep coming by the hundreds. Especially at night, they are on the move escaping the killing, raping, burning and looting, a consequence of tribal clashes.

Pastor George Keliuki presides over the Baptist church in Molo. Thousands have taken refuge in the church's back yard. But Keliuki said he has nothing more than beans and blankets to give them for the moment.

"We just entrust our lives to God because we have no aid assistance right now unless the international community intervenes," he said.

The victims of the crisis say there are still families trapped in rural areas -- dead, dying or too terrified to find a way out. They are caught in the election turmoil that erupted when Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the December 27 election, a result the opposition party disputes.

The government has said 482 people have been killed in the violence.

Kibaki on Saturday appeared to offer a way out of the stalemate with the opposition over the disputed elections, announcing he was ready to form a government of national unity, a government spokesman said.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga said he and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) were ready to negotiate with the president without preconditions. Odinga's party had earlier insisted Kibaki must resign before talks could take place.

Opposition leaders on Monday canceled plans for protests on Tuesday as they wait for Ghana's president to arrive to begin mediation efforts aimed at ending the widespread violence. E-mail to a friend