Mystery insect bugging experts at London museum

The experts at London's Natural History Museum pride themselves on being able to identify species from around the globe, from birds and mammals to insects and snakes. Yet they can't figure out a tiny red-and-black bug that has appeared in the museum's own gardens.

The almond-shaped insect, about the size of a grain of rice, and was first seen in March 2007 on some of the plane trees that grow on the grounds of the 19th century museum, collections manager Max Barclay said Tuesday.

Within three months, it had become the most common insect in the garden, and it was also spotted in other central London parks, he said.

The museum has more than 28 million insect species in its collection, but none is an exact match for this one. Still, Barclay is cautious about calling it a new discovery.

"I don't expect to find a new species in the gardens of a museum," he said. "Deep inside a tropical rainforest, yes, but not in central London."

The bug resembles the Arocatus roeselii, which is usually found in central Europe but is a brighter red and lives on alder trees. Entomologists suspect the new bug could be a version of the roeselii that has adapted to live on plane trees, but acknowledge it could be a new species.

Either way, it appears the museum's tiny visitor, which appears harmless, is here to stay.

"We waited to see if the insect would survive the British winter," Barclay said. "It did and it's thriving, so now we had better figure out what it is."

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OK, all you armchair bug experts in Cyberland let's help the fellas in London identify this bug!

Bud Ain't American No More

Philip McClary was grilling out at his home in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday night when he heard hometown brewer Anheuser-Busch would be bought by the Belgian company InBev.

"I was actually drinking a Bud Light when I heard, and I couldn't even finish it. That's the honest-to-God truth," he said Monday.

"I was proud to drink Budweiser, not any more," said P.J. Champion, a student at the University of Mississippi who said the brew is "a great piece of American history."

McClary put Champion's thoughts to music, posting his song "Kiss Our Glass" on YouTube and on a Web site that tried to stop the sale, SaveBudweiser.com.

"America is not for sale, and neither is her beer," McClary sings.

"All you hard-working Americans stand up and show some class," the song continues, "Have a drink with Mother Freedom, and tell InBev to kiss your glass."

Such outrage is to be expected, says Matt Simpson, who bills himself as The Beer Sommelier and teaches Beer Education 101 at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. But he said the protests will soon fade.

"Unless it affects [Americans] in the product or the pocketbook, they're likely to forget about it," Simpson says. And he doesn't think InBev will change its iconic product.

"You don't mess with a good thing," he says. "It really isn't about nationalism, it's about money."

Even McClary agrees.

"I think there will be somewhat of a backlash; I would anticipate initially that people will be furious and stop drinking it. Maybe after six months, though, they'll switch back."

Simpson says that if American beer drinkers turn away from Budweiser and other Anheuser-Busch brands, it will be because they are turning to microbrews.

"They are heading the pack in popularity and business success these days," he says of the small breweries. "Today, taste is king. You really don't get from the macro beer producers."

But he doesn't expect Budweiser to go away, either.

"There's nothing inherently wrong with the taste of Budweiser. It's a light American lager. There will always be some sort of market for that," he says.

For McClary, taste was never an issue. "I've drank tons of different beers, different brands; but Bud Light has always been the one to me that was the easiest to go down and had the smoothest taste."

But he says he's quaffed his last Bud Light, and the issue is larger than beer.

"We've kind of lost a part of our history here and all across the United States," he said.

InBev says it won't be changing Budweiser or Bud Light, which it says are the best-selling beers in the world.

"Budweiser will be brewed in the same breweries ... by the same people, according to the same recipe," said Carlos Brito, InBev's chief executive officer.

But iReporter Adam Williams, who lives across the street from Anheuser-Busch's St. Louis brewery, doesn't share that feeling of a continued tradition.

Things will change, Williams says, right down to the company's mascot Dalmatians that have been a constant commotion in the neighborhood.

"I will miss the nuisance that ... the Budweiser Dalmatians have meant around our neighborhood," he writes. "They may still exist over there for some time to come, but their kingdom's significance has severely diminished.

"What is the mascot of InBev, anyway?"

Dead Army nurse's husband charged with murder

The husband of an Army nurse who worked in the maternity ward at Fort Bragg's hospital was charged Monday with murder in her death, a day after her body was discovered by authorities.

Marine Cpl. John Wimunc, 23, was also charged with first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson in the death of his wife, Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc, of Dubuque, Iowa. Her body was found Sunday, three days after a suspicious fire at her Fayetteville apartment.

In May, Wimunc secured a temporary restraining order against her husband. She told authorities he got drunk and held a loaded handgun to her head and his. At the time of her death, the couple was going through a divorce.

"You start with people who are closest to the spouse and you work your way out from that," Fayetteville Detective Jeff Locklear said of the investigation.

Authorities also charged Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Alden, 22, with first-degree arson, conspiracy to commit arson and accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. Both were arrested at Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps base about 130 miles southeast of Fayetteville where they are stationed as combat engineers.

Wimunc's body was found in a wooded area near the southern border of Camp Lejeune late Sunday afternoon, not far from Alden's residence. The body had been there several days and there is evidence she was dead upon arrival, said Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson, who wouldn't elaborate. The men were arrested late Sunday night after police interviewed Alden.

"We were able to corroborate a lot of the things he told us," Locklear said. "We used that information, interviews with witnesses ... to get the arrest warrant."

Both men are currently being held without bond in the Cumberland County jail and are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. It wasn't immediately clear if they had attorneys. John Wimunc's father declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press, but Alden's mother said her son's only involvement was giving a friend a ride to Fayetteville.

"He had no idea what was going on. He didn't do this," Connie Johnson said in a phone interview from her home in Pequot Lakes, Minn.

Fayetteville police began searching for Wimunc when she didn't show up for work Thursday. Co-workers could not find her at her apartment, but smelled what they suspected was a fire and called police. Once inside, investigators found evidence of arson.

Sgt. Chris Corcione said Monday that investigators found several points where the fire was started, but the blaze was concentrated in the apartment's rear bedroom. While the interior walls of the burned room were black with soot, Corcione said, the fire burned itself out and left behind useable evidence.

Holley Wimunc, 24, was commissioned by the Army Nurse Corps in 2007. Her first duty assignment was at Fort Bragg, where she worked in the mother and baby unit at Womack Army Medical Center.

Corcione said Wimunc was last seen alive the night of July 8, when she went out with friends and used her ATM card. Police believe she was dead when she was taken out of the apartment, but they are not yet sure when her body was taken to Onslow County.

Hudson said an attempt to burn the body set off a brush fire that drew the attention of authorities, and the body was located by Division of Forest Resources personnel. He said detectives likely would never have found her body had it been burned in a brush-free area about 100 feet away.

"It seems that someone tried to torch the body in the shallow grave," Hudson said.

Maj. Cliff W. Gilmore, a spokesman with the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, said both suspects are assigned to the division's 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion. John Wimunc has served two tours in Iraq, including one that ended in January. Alden's mother said he went to Iraq in 2006.

"All he wanted to do was defend our country," Johnson said. "He has a wonderful, loving heart."

Holley Wimunc's father in Dubuque, Jesse James, said his daughter was a St. Ambrose University graduate, and excited about nursing and her career in the U.S. Army. She also had a son and daughter.

John Wimunc was not the father of Holley Wimunc's two children, and they were not in Fayetteville when the fire was reported. She had sent them to live with her father because of "the domestic situation," Corcione said.

Wimunc's death is the third homicide of a young North Carolina-based female service member in the past seven months.

In January, the body of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, of Vandalia, Ohio, was found in the back yard of a fellow Marine, Cpl. Cesar Laurean. He fled to Mexico and was captured in early April, and is charged with murder in her death.

Last month, the decomposing body of Spc. Megan Touma, of Cold Spring, Ky., was discovered in a motel near Fort Bragg. Authorities have made no arrests in that case, but stressed Monday it has no connection to Wimunc's death.

Father says NC remains in fire are missing soldier

The father of a missing Fort Bragg soldier says authorities have identified the remains of a woman found in a brush fire near Camp Lejeune as those of his missing daughter.

Army nurse Holley Wimunc (WHY-munk) has been missing since a fire Thursday at her apartment in Fayetteville.

On Monday, her father told Raleigh television station WRAL that authorities informed the family that a body found in the brush fire Sunday was that of his daughter.

Wimunc was going through a divorce from Camp Lejeune Marine Cpl. John Patrick Wimunc.

Fayetteville police questioned the husband last week. He has not been named as a suspect in her disappearance.

World's oldest blogger dies in Australia

A 108-year-old Australian woman who was promoted as the world's oldest blogger has died two weeks after making her last post about "singing a happy song," her great-grand son and her online forum said.

Olive Riley wrote 74 entries in her blogs, firstly http://www.allaboutolive.com.au and later http://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com. A friend introduced Riley to blogging early in 2007, and was hooked.

Riley "passed away peacefully on Saturday, July 12," a posting on her Web site said. No cause of death was given. "She will be mourned by thousands of Internet friends and hundreds of descendants and other relatives."

She entered a nursing home in Woy Woy, 50 miles north of Sydney, last month, from where she blogged about having a bad cough and feeling weak.

In her last entry, on June 26, Riley thanked supporters for "a whole swag of e-mails and comments from my Internet friends" and described meeting a new friend in the bed next to her.

"She and I sang a happy song, as I do every day, and before long we were joined by several nurses, who sang along too. It was quite a concert!" she posted.

Great-grandson Darren Stone said Riley loved being able to stay in touch with correspondents all over the world and said she believed it kept her mind active.

"It was mind blowing to her," Stone said. "She had people communicating with her from as far away as Russia and America on a continual basis, not just once in a while."

Born in the remote mining town of Broken Hill in 1899, Riley blogged regularly in the last year of her life about growing up in the Outback, raising three children and working as a farm cook and bartender earlier in her life.