UNITED STATES
Illusionist rescues partner
Criss Angel’s rescue of an escape artist trapped in a water-filled box was no illusion. Angel and Spencer Horsman were rehearsing for the opening night of the illusionist’s show at a Connecticut casino when Horsman became trapped in the box dangling above the stage and Angel came to his aid. The Las Vegas Sun reports that Horsman is recovering from the Wednesday accident. Foxwoods Resort Casino president and CEO Felix Rappaport said in a statement that the show would go on. Rappaport said the opening night of The Supernaturalists was rescheduled from Thursday to Friday, because the safety of the cast and crew is the priority.
UNITED STATES
Mutt takes ugliest dog title
A 10-year-old mutt named Quasi Modo, whose spinal birth defects left him a bit hunchbacked, is the winner of this year’s World’s Ugliest Dog contest. The pit bull-Dutch shepherd mix and his owner took the US$1,500 prize on Friday night, besting 25 other dogs competing in the contest that applauds imperfection, organizers said. Quasi Modo was abandoned at an animal shelter before being adopted by a veterinarian in Loxahatchee, Florida, according to his biography posted on the contest’s Web site. “My appearance can be a little unsettling to some [I have had grown men jump on top of their cars to get away from me, because they thought I was a hyena or Tasmanian devil], but once they get to know me, I win them over with my bubbly personality,” his biography said. Two Chinese crested and Chihuahua mixes named Sweepee Rambo and Frodo took the second and third-place prizes respectively. An eight-year-old Chihuahua named Precious received the “spirit award,” honoring a dog and owner who have overcome obstacles and/or are providing service to the community. Precious, who is blind in one eye, is trained to monitor smells related to low blood sugar levels and alert her owner, a disabled veteran, of the problem, her biography said.
GERMANY
Artist defends gift horse
A German artist whose painting of a blue horse was presented as a gift to visiting British Queen Elizabeth II, prompting a quizzical reaction over its “strange color,” defended her work on Friday. Nicole Leidenfrost told German newspapers that her art was about “having fun” and insisted the 89-year-old queen had liked the rendering of her as a little girl being led on a pony by her father, King George VI. The modern artwork, based on a photograph, was presented to the queen, who is on a state visit to Germany with her husband, Prince Philip, by German President Joachim Gauck at the Bellevue Palace earlier in the week. “It’s a strange color for a horse,” the queen is seen saying in a brief video circulating on the Internet, before adding: “And that is supposed to be my father?” Leidenfrost shrugged off the reaction. “It’s about having fun! I don’t do deadly serious art,” she told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, highlighting the symbolism of the horse’s “royal blue” hue. In an interview with Munich’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the artist said the queen had only briefly looked at the painting, but that it was visibly a “very cordial” situation. “She laughed and was pleased. And that was exactly my goal,” Leidenfrost said. German commentators on Friday also picked up on negative remarks in some British newspapers about the gift, with Berlin’s Tagesspiegel defending “artistic freedom.” And several could not resist adding: “Never look a gift horse in the mouth.”
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
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