■ Angola
`Extinct' antelope found
Giant sable antelopes, which have not been seen for 31 years, have been photographed in Angola's dense southern forest by a team of Angolan and South African scientists who used microlight planes to fly at low altitude. The giant sable is Angola's national symbol and features on its currency, postage stamps and the tailfins of the national airline's planes. It has majestic arched horns, often more than 152cm long. The antelopes were feared to have become extinct during Angola's 30-year civil war when they were shot for meat. They were last seen in 1974. An infrared camera installed by Angolan wildlife scientist Pedro Vaz Pinto has photographed a small herd of female sable. Two of the sables were pregnant and others were nursing new calves.
■ Latvia
Sweet heist accomplished
Criminals broke into a confectionery shop in Riga and made off with half a tonne of chocolates. The burglars took only the chocolates with them and left the packaging behind in the shop called "Laima," which means happiness. A shop employee said that the stolen chocolates were "leftovers" and it was therefore difficult to put a figure on the value of the loss.
■ United Kingdom
Cure found for sore teeth
Scientists have found a cure for sensitive teeth. Sufferers could soon be fitted with a tiny glass bead infused with fluoride, which proved 100 percent successful at stopping pain in a small trial group at Leeds University. Stuck to an upper tooth, the bead slowly releases low levels of fluoride to form a protective cap over exposed nerves. "The volunteers were so happy with the beads that when the trial ended they refused to give them back," said Gayatri Kotru, a research assistant at the Leeds Dental Institute, where the bead was developed.
■ United Kingdom
`1984' opera opens
Lorin Maazel, the conductor-composer whose new opera of George Orwell's 1984 opens today at the Royal Opera House, London, has put more than ?400,000 (US$760,000) of his own money into the production, leading to accusations that Covent Garden is staging a vanity project. Maazel has no experience as a writer of opera, only as a conductor. About half the costs are being borne by Big Brother Productions, in which Maazel is the chief investor. The opera administrator who commissioned the piece died, so the Royal Opera decided to take on the project, sharing costs with the Tokyo Opera, but the Japanese house pulled out.
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