NEW ZEALAND
Cat brings home underwear
A cat named Keith with a reputation as a thief has taken his habit to new lows by bringing home drug paraphernalia and underwear, his owners said. Keith’s activities started three years ago, when he began taking bras from clothes lines and bringing home live eels from the local Heathcote river in Christchurch, owners Ginny and David Rumbold said. However, in the past few weeks, the five-year-old black cat has brought home a bong and a ziploc bag containing unidentified white powder, they said. He also left underwear on the back fence, they said. “I suggested to him diamonds and cash would be better, but that hasn’t happened so far,” Ginny Rumbold told news Web site Stuff.
JAPAN
Lickable TV developed
A professor has developed a prototype lickable TV screen that can imitate food flavors. The device, called Taste the TV, uses a carousel of 10 flavor canisters that spray in combination to create the taste of a particular food. The flavor sample then rolls on hygienic film over a flat TV screen for people to try. In the COVID-19 era, this kind of technology can enhance the way people connect and interact with the outside world, Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita said. “The goal is to make it possible for people to have the experience of something like eating at a restaurant on the other side of the world, even while staying at home,” he said. Potential applications include distance learning for sommeliers and cooks, and tasting games and quizzes, he added.
UNITED STATES
Navy seizes 1,400 rifles
The navy has seized 1,400 AK-47 rifles and ammunition from a fishing boat it claimed was smuggling weapons from Iran to Houthi rebels in Yemen. Naval Forces Central Command said that it boarded the boat on Monday in the North Arabian Sea, seized the weapons cache and five crew members — who identified themselves as Yemeni — before scuttling the vessel.
UNITED STATES
Drugs found around penis
Florida authorities said they found cocaine and methamphetamine wrapped around a man’s penis during a traffic stop, but the man denied that the drugs were his. Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said they stopped a vehicle driving without its lights on at 4am on Saturday last week. WFLA-TV reported that the driver was arrested on drunk driving marijuana possession charges. Authorities said they found a gun under the passenger’s seat while searching the vehicle and discovered the drugs while searching the passenger. The man said that the drugs were not his, but did not say who the drugs belonged to, the arrest report said.
UNITED STATES
Sally Ann Howes dies
Sally Ann Howes, who was a child actor before she later starred in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang alongside Dick Van Dyke, has died. She was 91. Her son Andrew Hart Adler confirmed his mother’s death in an interview with the Press Association on Wednesday. Her nephew Toby Howes wrote on Twitter that the family hoped Sally Ann Howes could “hold on” until the Christmas screening of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but he said she ultimately died peacefully in her sleep. The cause of her death has not been released. The New York Times reported that she died in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Sunday.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
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