UNITED STATES
Alligator, dead cats found
A 2.4m alligator was found next to the carcasses of two cats in the back yard of a suburban Los Angeles home where the reptile had been living illegally since the 1970s, authorities said. Animal control officers armed with a search warrant discovered the alligator, estimated to be about 40 years old, in a closed box with the cat remains at the home in Van Nuys, Los Angeles Animal Services Commander Mark Salazar said. Animal Services was conducting a full criminal investigation and called on any residents in the area who have lost small pets at “any time over the last 40 years” to contact the department, Salazar said. Ron Gorecki, who cares for the alligator along with his sister, told the Los Angeles Daily News that the alligator fed on “chicken, hot dogs, stuff of that nature — nothing live,” leaving the family’s cats alone. “Basically what they’re trying to say is that we’re taking our cats and feeding them to our alligator,” Gorecki told the newspaper. “That’s not what happened. There’s never been a complaint, never been a problem.” The alligator was taken to the Los Angeles Zoo.
UNITED STATES
Girl slashed in family fight
A two-year-old girl was slashed on Sunday in Manhattan during a fight between her father and his elder brother, who stabbed each other, police said. Officers responded to a call for an assault with a knife at 3:55pm at an apartment in East Harlem. They found the girl’s 27-year-old uncle was stabbed in his arms, head and an eye. He was in critical, but stable condition at Harlem Hospital, and the girl was being treated there for a deep cut to her wrist, the police said. Her 20-year-old father was treated for lacerations on his hand and head, officers said. The two men were arrested along with the girl’s 17-year-old mother, who was also involved in the fight, the police said. Charges against all three were pending on Sunday night. The police said the brothers had an ongoing dispute and fought frequently.
UNITED STATES
Train hits working model
A 37-year-old model and actor featured on the cover of numerous fitness magazines was struck and killed by a train while filming on the tracks in Southern California, authorities said. Two men were filming George Plitt Jr on the railroad track north of the Burbank train station on Saturday afternoon when Plitt was hit by a southbound train, Burbank Police Sergeant Scott Meadows said. Investigators, who interviewed witnesses who saw Plitt standing on the track even as the train’s horn was blaring, have ruled out a suicide, he said. It appears Plitt may have believed the train was on a nearby, parallel track, Meadows said. “It’s like a blind turn,” he said. “When the train came, you might not be able to tell which set the train is on.” Investigators are trying to determine who directed the men to film on the railroad track.
UNITED STATES
US$2,084 tip for a pizza
A group of real-estate agents meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan, surprised a man by giving him a US$2,084 tip for delivering one pizza on Thursday. The man, identified only as Rob, was stunned and said on video: “All I did was deliver pizza.” Agents from Keller Williams Realty all pitched in while attending the company’s regional conference. Stacey McVey said they wanted to show their appreciation to someone from the service industry. Besides cash, Rob received a Visa gift card, lottery tickets and letters of encouragement. Brian LeFevre, delivery manager at Pizza House in Ann Arbor, said Rob was “ecstatic.”
TANZANIA
Reward offered for albino
Police on Sunday offered a reward for information leading to the recovery, dead or alive, of an albino girl feared to have been kidnapped for her body parts. Four-year-old Pendo Emmanuelle Nundi was kidnapped late last month from her home in the northern Mwanza region, but has yet to be found, despite several arrests. Body parts from albinos are sought after in Tanzania for witchcraft and at least 74 have been murdered in the east African country since 2000, according to the UN. “We continue to call on the public to give us information. We have promised 3 million shillings [US$1,700] for any information that can lead to finding Pendo, dead or alive,” Mwanza police chief Valentino Mlowola told TBC1 television. Since the girl’s disappearance, police have arrested 15 people — including the girl’s father and two uncles. Albino body parts sell for about US$600 in Tanzania, with an entire corpse fetching US$75,000.
JAPAN
Four killed in avalanches
Avalanches in and around ski resorts killed four people over the weekend, including two Argentine men, police and media reported yesterday. The two foreigners, aged 50 and 54, were in the Ryuoo Ski Park in Nagano Prefecture on Sunday, police said. They were together with a man from New Zealand, and a man and a woman from Australia, a local police spokeswoman said. “When they skied off-piste shortly after 2pm on Sunday, an avalanche occurred and engulfed the two Argentine men,” she said. “Their friends made an emergency call and rescuers found their bodies in the snow.” Over the weekend two other avalanche-triggered deadly accidents occurred in Niigata Prefecture, north of Nagano, local reports said. A Japanese man, 48, died on Saturday after he was hit by an avalanche as he snowboarded, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Another Japanese man, 35, was found dead in an off-piste area of a ski resort in Niigata, with police believing he had also been hit by snowfall, the paper said.
INDIA
Muslims burned to death
A government official said at least three Muslims were burned to death when their thatched huts were set on fire during a clash between Hindu and Muslim groups. Bihar State administrator Atul Prasad said the violence erupted on Sunday after the body of a young Hindu boy was found in Sarayian village more than a week after he went missing. Prasad said the Hindu fishing community blamed the Muslims for the boy’s death as he was friendly with a Muslim girl from the village. He said police have arrested eight Hindu villagers.
LEBANON
Israeli selfie sparks furor
A Israeli beauty queen’s selfie has caused a stir, with some Lebanese saying their nation’s contestant at the Miss Universe pageant should be stripped of her title for consorting with the enemy. Miss Israel Doron Matalon posted a photograph of herself and Miss Lebanon Saly Greige smiling together at pageant preparations in Miami. The two nations are technically at war. Some Lebanese have demanded on social media that Greige lose her title for contacts with a citizen of the enemy state. Greige defended herself on Instagram on Saturday. “Since the first day of my arrival to participate to Miss Universe, I was very cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel,” Greige said. “I was having a photo with Miss Japan, Miss Slovenia, suddenly Miss Israel jumped in and took a selfie and uploaded it on her social media.”
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
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