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Detained 'drug smuggler' cat escapes Sri Lanka prison

A cat detained at Sri Lanka's main prison while allegedly trying to smuggle drugs and cell phone SIM cards has escaped, media reports said Monday. The feline was detected by jail intelligence officials on Saturday at the high-security Welikada Prison, a police official said. The prison had reported an increase in incidents of people throwing small packets of drugs, cell phones and phone chargers over the walls in recent weeks.

Time to change: Virus-hit US urges people to spend coins

The flow of coins through the US economy is the latest victim of the coronavirus pandemic and now the government is asking people to spare a little change to balance out the supply. Virus restrictions have meant stores doing less business and thus fewer coins are being spent, bunching up the normal flow of quarters, dimes and nickels. "The problem is the circulation kind of stopped because stores were closed, banks were closed," Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told journalists on Wednesday.

'Model' customers keep Tokyo diners at social distance

The coronavirus pandemic might have left many restaurants empty, but one establishment in Tokyo is relying on some model customers to enforce social distancing: life-like mannequins keeping diners from getting too close. Masato Takemine's Chinese restaurant looks busy even as many businesses in the city deal with a dearth of clientele, with ladies in ornate Chinese-style dresses and a girl in a kimono among those seated at his tables.

Banksy triptych raises $3 million for Palestinian hospital

A triptych of a Mediterranean shipwreck donated by British street artist Banksy raised nearly $3 million on Tuesday at a Sotheby's auction held to raise funds for a Palestinian hospital in the West Bank. "We're often led to believe migration is a drain on the country's resources, but Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian immigrant," he said in a rare public comment on the piece.

NY governor pans concert where Goldman Sachs CEO performed

David Solomon's side gig as a DJ generated unwanted attention Tuesday when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo slammed a concert where the Goldman Sachs CEO performed as "illegal and reckless." Cuomo took to Twitter to express his displeasure with the "Safe & Sound" fundraiser, held over the weekend in the swanky beach town of Southampton. Cuomo's tweet did not mention Solomon, who was the opening act for the Chainsmokers, with proceeds set to go to No Kid Hungry, a child hunger charity, and other groups.

Sheepish St Bernard dog rescued from English mountain

Sixteen rescuers were called out to save a St Bernard dog stranded on an English mountain, in an embarrassing episode for the member of a breed more famed for rescuing stricken humans from the icy dangers of the high Alps. The pooch named Daisy collapsed while descending from the summit of Scafell Pike in northwest England with her owners, Wasdale Mountain Rescue team according to a statement on their website Sunday. Manoeuvering the 55-kilogramme (120-pound) dog onto a stretcher in order to carry her off the hill required "plenty" of treats, they added.

Ukraine president defends movie post to end hostage crisis

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday defended his decision to agree to a hostage-taker's bizarre demand that he post a movie recommendation to end a 12-hour stand-off. The tense stand-off ended after the president agreed to post a video of himself recommending a 2005 US documentary narrated by actor Joaquin Phoenix called "Earthlings", which condemns humans' mistreatment of animals. The SBU security service said all the bus passengers were released unharmed.

In Sweden, female priests now outnumber male ones

For the first time in history, Swedish female priests outnumber their male counterparts, sixty years after they were first allowed to don the clerical collar, the Church of Sweden said Wednesday. Of the 3,060 priests currently serving in Sweden, 1,533 are female, or 50.1 percent, according to Cristina Grenholm, secretary for the Church of Sweden. Unlike the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church of Sweden has allowed female priests since 1958 and first ordained three women in 1960.

Bovine fine: Borneo tribal slur costs man eight buffaloes, plus gongs

A Pakistani man has been fined eight buffaloes and eight gongs by a court on the Malaysian part of Borneo for insulting indigenous groups, an official said Wednesday. Amir Ali Khan Nawatay was ordered to pay the unusual fine by a native court in Sabah state after he pleaded guilty to making insulting comments about indigenous groups in May and June. Kota Marudu district chief Baintin Adun, who presided over Tuesday's case, said recordings of the 50-year-old businessman's comments had spread on social media, creating a lot of anger.

Rare twin red-ruffed lemurs born at Singapore zoo

Twin red-ruffed lemurs have been born at Singapore zoo, officials said Thursday, a rare double delivery that is a boost for the endangered saucer-eyed primates. It was the first birth at the zoo of the endangered creatures, which are native to Madagascar, in over a decade, Wildlife Reserves Singapore said. The mother is eight-year-old Minnie, who arrived in Singapore from a Japanese zoo in 2016.

Bearing no malice: Pompeo denies Pooh-poohing Xi

America's top diplomat Mike Pompeo assails China nearly daily, but he says his dog isn't part of his campaign. Pompeo raised eyebrows among students of social media tea leaves when he posted a picture of his dog looking ready to tear into a toy Winnie the Pooh. Chinese social media users have frequently used the jolly bear as a meme for President Xi Jinping, although the country's thorough censors have little sense of humor about it.

Tintin and the mystery of the duelling mummies

The mummified corpse of Rascar Capac thrilled and terrified generations of young fans of the Tintin comic book story "The Seven Crystal Balls". Now, Herge's fictional Inca has sparked a row between rival Belgian tourist attractions, each of which displays a mummy they say inspired Tintin's creator. The very serious Art and History Museum is in Brussels' Jubilee Park, near where Herge used to live, and he was known to frequent its collections.

Silent screams: Japan rollercoaster virus guide wins hearts

It might be the unlikeliest instructional video ever, but footage of two Japanese amusement park executives demonstrating how to "scream inside your heart" to avoid spreading COVID-19 while on a rollercoaster has been a roaring success. "Now our customers stay silent while riding on rollercoasters," a spokeswoman for amusement park operator Fujikyuko told AFP, after the video on riding etiquette for the coronavirus era went viral. A black screen follows featuring advice that some social media users have dubbed a slogan for 2020: "scream inside your heart."

I still love sharks: bloodied woman unbowed after Australia attack

A woman who was left bloodied after being attacked while swimming in Australia told reporters "I still love sharks" as she was stretchered off to hospital Tuesday. The 29-year-old filmmaker was taking a dip off Queensland when she was set upon, suffering cuts and a possible broken ankle. "I still love sharks," she yelled to camera crews as she was wheeled past on a stretcher.

Alpine melt yields old India headlines: Indira Gandhi is PM

The Mont Blanc glacier in the French Alps yields more and more secrets as it melts -- this time a clutch of newspapers with banner headlines from when Indira Gandhi became India's first and so far only woman prime minister in 1966. The copies of Indian newspapers the National Herald and The Economic Times were probably aboard an Air India Boeing 707 that crashed on the mountain on January 24, 1966, claiming 177 lives. The trove of around a dozen newspapers was found last week by Timothee Mottin, who runs a cafe-restaurant, La Cabane du Cerro, perched at an altitude of 1,350 metres (4,455 feet) near the Chamonix skiing hub.

Ex-soldier who fled with puma turns himself over to police

A former Polish soldier who fled into a forest with his pet puma to avoid handing it over to a zoo, gave himself up to police on Sunday after a three-day manhunt. About 200 officers were deployed to track down the former Afghan war veteran and the big cat. The former soldier "Kamil Stanek voluntarily turned himself over to police in Zawiercie and was later released", the police in the southern Polish city said on their Facebook page.

Up for grabs: Tokyo art exhibit invites theft

The Tokyo art exhibit opened to enthusiastic visitors, but many of those circulating weren't just there to soak in some culture -- they were casing the joint for a midnight raid. Hours after the gallery closed for the night, a crowd had gathered ready to pounce on the artworks. The police station was nearby, but officers only intervened for crowd control, because all the pieces at the Stealable Art Exhibition were up for grabs.

British man jailed for trying to steal Magna Carta

A British man was jailed on Friday for attempting to steal a priceless 1215 original version of Magna Carta, which has defined rights and liberties around the world. Mark Royden attacked the protective glass surrounding the manuscript at Salisbury Cathedral in southern England but was chased off by two American tourists and cornered by a group of stonemasons. The 47-year-old was found guilty in January of attempted theft and criminal damage to the security case costing £14,466 ($18,295, 16,172 euros).

Royal rivalry in Italian Riviera 'micronation'

The hilltop village, where the Knights Templar are said by locals to have hidden the Holy Grail, insists that documents dating to the 18th century prove it was never legally incorporated into Italy. When her now ex-husband Marcello abdicated last year during his second seven-year reign, Menegatto ran to become red-roofed Seborga's first female ruler.

Musk mocks Tesla short-sellers by selling short shorts

Tesla founder Elon Musk is ruthlessly mocking the carmaker's doubters who sell the company short by selling short shorts with the company logo. Musk on Sunday followed through on a threat made last week by offering red satin shorts for sale on the company website -- which promptly crashed from the volume of orders, or perhaps mere curiosity. "This item is out of stock," the Tesla site says, above the description of the athletic wear priced at $69.420.

Holiday park sculpture by artist Calder on sale in Paris

A huge sculpture by American artist Alexander Calder will be auctioned this week in Paris after spending over 50 years at a holiday park in southern France, the auction house said on Monday. The black steel 3,5 metre (11 foot) structure, which will go under the hammer at the auction house Artcurial on Wednesday, was made by Calder in 1963. It was installed six years later in front of a holiday park which aims to attract low-income families by maintaining affordable prices.

Hundreds of drones light up Seoul sky with virus messages

Hundreds of drones lit up the night sky in Seoul for a spectacular showcase of motivational and awareness messages as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic. Three hundred unmanned aerial vehicles were programmed to form images above the Han river -- which runs through the South Korean capital -- for the eyecatching flash mob. The show began with messages reminding people of key precautionary measures, including wearing masks, washing hands and keeping a two-metre distance from others.

Dutch ID cards will soon omit gender, says minister

Gender will cease to be mentioned on identity cards in the Netherlands in the next few years because it is "unnecessary" information, the education and culture minister has said. In a letter to parliament seen by AFP on Saturday, Ingrid van Engelshoven -- whose brief also includes emancipation -- said gender categories would be omitted from ID cards "starting from 2024/2025". Van Engelshoven said she intended to "limit where possible the unnecessary registration of gender" even if such information would continue to be included on passports in line with European Union regulations.

China tech giant Tencent duped by saucy scammers

Chinese tech giant Tencent has been fooled by impostors posing as representatives of the country's most famous chilli sauce brand, police said, in a saga that nearly pitched the two famous brands against each other in court. The dispute between Tencent -- owner of the WeChat app -- and legendary Chinese sauce Lao Gan Ma heated up this week when a court in the southern city of Shenzhen announced it would freeze assets of the chilli maker worth 16.24 million yuan ($2.3 million). The court said the request came from Tencent, which had sued the manufacturer for not paying advertising fees under a 2019 contract.

Turkmen leader dedicates poem to 'wonderful' wheat

Turkmenistan's eccentric and authoritarian leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has penned a poem celebrating wheat and the farmers that grow it, state media in the Central Asian country reported Tuesday. Berdymukhamedov is portrayed by local media as a prolific author, poet and composer, while reverence for wheat is a tradition deeply rooted in the Soviet Union that oil-rich Turkmenistan separated from in 1991. The poem published in the state newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan hailed wheat as a "wonderful cereal, miracle seed."

Panda gifted by China gives birth to second cub in Taiwan

A giant panda gifted by China to Taiwan has given birth to a second female cub after being artificially inseminated, Taipei Zoo announced Monday. Yuan Yuan and her partner Tuan Tuan have been top attractions since arriving from China in 2008 as a symbol of what were then warm relations between the two sides. Yuan Yuan gave birth to a daughter Yuan Zai in 2013 -- the first giant panda born in Taiwan.

Bias against women driven by people who think it doesn't exist: study

Managers who believe gender discrimination is a thing of the past showed bias against women by suggesting a female job candidate be paid eight percent less than an identically qualified man, according to new research. The study, which comes after a United Nations report said around 90 percent of people globally hold some prejudice against women, found that bias persists even when female representation in a particular field increases. "Quite critically, this research demonstrates that managers who think bias is no longer an issue in their profession are, perhaps ironically, the key drivers of bias," the authors said.

Fourth time lucky? Danish PM forced to postpone wedding again

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen thought she had finally found a date for her wedding, but has now had to postpone it for a third time due to an EU summit, she said Thursday. Many a wedding plan has been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic and it seems not even world leaders are immune. "I am really looking forward to marrying this fantastic man," Frederiksen wrote in a Facebook post alongside a photo of herself and her fiance Bo.

Stranded surfer says Argentina must repatriate dogs too

An Argentine adventurer stranded in Peru because of the coronavirus lockdown says he wants to go home, but not without his dogs which he has adopted on his travels. "We are waiting in Lima for a humanitarian flight that will take my pets so we can fly to Argentina," 33-year-old surfer Michael Graef told AFP. After walking and cycling through much of Peru for 40 days, Graef arrived in Lima, where he spends the nights with his pets in a tent near the Argentine embassy.

Never mind the skyscrapers, grab a deckchair on Milan's 'beach'

Milan sun-worshippers, finally emerging from months of coronavirus lockdown, do not have to travel far to find a deckchair and a parasol: a "beach" beckons right in the middle of one of the city's main business districts. It's not the seaside, concedes 22-year-old student Mauro Manara Rossino. Lido Bam, or Bam Beach, appeared at the weekend in a park in Milan's Porta Nuova district, home to Italy's tallest skyscraper, the Unicredit Tower.

Maurice, the French rooster who ruffled feathers, will crow no more

A French rooster, who became a symbol of tensions between traditional rural France and encroaching urbanity in a court battle over his early-morning crowing, has died, his owner said Thursday. Maurice the cockerel rose to national fame after his dawn cock-a-doodle-doos so annoyed a retired couple with a holiday home on the picturesque island of Oleron in western France that they took the owner to court in a bid to silence him. The case last year was seen as a symbol of the strains between the traditions of rural France and city-dwellers, who use the countryside as a place for second homes but have a thin skin for countryside smells and sounds.

Must be glove: the Japan man obsessed with lost gloves

Tokyo (AFP) - Koji Ishii can't help himself: whenever he sees a lost glove on the streets of his hometown Tokyo, he just has to stop and document it.

Putin has 'disinfection tunnel' to protect him from coronavirus

Visitors meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin at his country residence must first pass through a walk-through device that sprays them with disinfectant to protect him from the coronavirus, officials said. Putin has been self-isolating at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow under lockdown although he made a public appearance without a mask at an outdoor event on the June 12 Russia Day holiday. As part of precautions to protect the president, visitors walk through the device and get sprayed from above and the side, a video posted Tuesday evening on Twitter by Kremlin pool journalists from RIA Novosti state news agency showed.

Vienna man fined 500 euros for deliberate 'massive flatulence'

Austrian police fined a man 500 euros for loudly breaking wind after officers stopped him earlier this month to check his identity. The police defended the massive fine saying he had deliberately emitted a "massive flatulence," lifting his backside from the bench where he was sitting.

Plain plane go away: UK PM orders official jet paint job

Prime Minister Boris Johnson doesn't like the plain plane he uses for state visits and has ordered a more colourful makeover to fly the flag for Britain, it was reported Tuesday. The paint job on the RAF Voyager transport plane sounds like something "from Austin Powers", the source added. The Austin Powers character flew around on a psychedelic-coloured Boeing 747 in the "Goldmember" film of the 1990s spoof spy franchise.

Sub surfaces to let Norway sailors take the plunge

It was an unusual sight: on a hot sunny day this weekend, it wasn't a Norwegian navy submarine seen plunging into the North Sea, but rather its swimsuit-clad crew who were observed diving in off the hull for a refreshing dip. With the men in trunks and the women in bikinis, a couple of dozen sailors were photographed diving off the hull of their submarine, the KNM Uthaug, in a fjord in Norway's southwest. With a fleet of six submarines, Norway is tasked with defending NATO's northern flank, opposite Russia's mighty Northern Fleet.

'Baby dragons' go on display in Slovenia

Slithering through their subterranean aquarium, three "baby dragons" have gone on display in a Slovenian cave, where they hatched in 2016 in a rare successful breeding, officials said Thursday. Only 30 visitors per day will be allowed to visit the so-called baby dragons -- ancient underwater predators that can live up to 100 years and only breed once in a decade. "We are proud to present three out of the 21 baby olms, the world-famous 'dragon's offspring', which we have kept a close eye on since 2016," the Postojna cave said in a statement.

In Spain, the white lion cub whose mum didn't want him

Guillena (España) (AFP) - His name is White King, he's 10 days old and the zoo says he's a real "teddy bear". Born on May 31, the cub is the first white lion born in a Spanish zoo. "It was a bad birth," he told AFP, adding that the mother, a white lioness brought over from Thailand four years ago had "laboured for 14 or 15 days before giving birth".

US author declares decade-long treasure hunt in Rockies finally over

A decade-long hunt for treasure hidden in the Rocky Mountains that drew in 350,000 seekers and is believed to have cost five lives has ended with someone finally uncovering the chest, the man who designed the riddle said. Forrest Fenn, a Santa Fe writer and artifacts dealer, said he hid $1 million in the western mountains in 2010 and offered clues to its whereabouts in a 24-line poem published in his autobiography the same year. Fenn, a former Vietnam War fighter pilot who went on to become an art dealer and author, said he had packed the bronze chest with gold dust, expensive rubies and emeralds, rare coins and even pre-Columbian animal figures, worth a total of $1 million dollars.

'We'll be back': Italy prison escapees promise to return

Two inmates who escaped from a prison in Rome last week left guards a courtesy note, saying they had business to take care of but would be back shortly, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The two cousins, Davad Zukanovic, 40, and Lil Ahmetovic, 46, broke out of Rebibbia prison overnight on June 2 by scaling a wall using a water hose left in a courtyard. At the end of the signed note, Zukanovic and Ahmetovic promised to return in about 15 days once everything was sorted, the paper said.

Sick of lockdown: Panda escapes confinement in Copenhagen zoo

Humans are not the only ones tiring of confinement during the coronavirus pandemic -- a panda escaped from his enclosure at Copenhagen Zoo on Monday. Xing Er, a six-year-old male panda -- soon to be seven -- then took a tour of the zoo, which was closed at the time. "The veterinarian of the zoo anaesthetised the panda and he was brought back to the enclosure," Hoeck said.

Gran Theft Auto: finger flexes keep 90-year-old gamer console-ready

Every day, 90-year-old Japanese grandma Hamako Mori flexes her fingers to keep them nimble. Not for knitting or needlepoint, but to keep them in shape for playing video games. The pensioner known as "Gamer Grandma" spends three or more hours a day battling monsters and going on missions in the virtual worlds of her favourite games, and even has a popular YouTube channel for her fans.

Banana, bean cake and fertiliser stunts in Hong Kong's legislature

Outnumbered and with the rule book written against them, Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers have embraced rotten plants, red bean cakes, bananas and a dizzying array of other weird objects for theatrical stunts inside the rambunctious chamber. In the latest event to infuriate the pro-Beijing majority, opposition lawmaker Ray Chan threw a foul-smelling fertiliser onto the green carpet of the Legislative Chamber on Thursday. The incident occurred on the anniversary of China's 1989 deadly crackdown on Tiananmen protesters, and Chan said the jar of brown liquid represented the "stink" of that tragedy.

Back in the saddle: Turkmen leader heads up giant bike parade

Thousands of tracksuit-wearing officials in Turkmenistan were brought along for the ride Wednesday as eccentric leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov spearheaded a cycling parade to mark World Bicycle Day. Turkmenistan -- one of the few countries that has not reported a single case of the coronavirus -- has given little thought to social distancing in recent months, celebrating key occasions in the national calendar with customary pomp. World Bicycle Day, a date that the United Nations recognised in 2018 following a proposal by Turkmenistan, saw a large throng of officials follow Berdymukhamedov on a trip through the capital Ashgabat where roads were closed for the occasion.

S.Africa thieves stage liquor heist under lockdown

Thieves in South Africa dug through a concrete floor into a shop to steal thousands of dollars worth of liquor days before an alcohol sales ban was lifted, police said Tuesday. The thieves made off with whisky, brandy, gin, vodka and beer valued at around $17,000. Workers at the Shoprite supermarket in the Newtown district of Johannesburg discovered the heist when they went in last Friday to prepare for the resumption of sales on June 1.

Britain denies virus restrictions encourage 'sex ban'

The British government on Tuesday defended tweaks to its coronavirus lockdown rules, after claims that a ban on overnight stays between households would criminalise sex. The new guidelines came into force on Monday, easing some restrictions on social gatherings but prohibiting two people from different households from meeting in a private place.

Singapore minister sheepishly admits woolly thinking over cotton

Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing made the error in a video interview on Saturday while attempting to explain tiny Singapore's reliance on foreign trade. It was not long before Chan cottoned on to the error, and said he had a "good laugh" when he realised what he had done. "To any one (especially young children) watching the video -- cotton definitely doesn’t come from sheep, it comes from cotton plants!" he said in a Facebook post.

Paris cafes to get extra terrace space as lockdown eases

Restaurants, cafes and bars in Paris will be able to put more tables outside when they reopen Tuesday after two months of lockdown, allowing them to serve more clients even as their inside dining rooms must remain closed. While other restaurants across France can fully reopen Tuesday, the high number of COVID-19 cases and higher contagion risks in the densely populated Paris region prompted authorities to allow only limited operations for now. "This is going to let these businesses get back up and running," said Didier Chenet, president of the GNI Synhorcat of restaurant owners.

Gibraltar moves to protect its monkeys against coronavirus

Authorities in Britain's tiny enclave of Gibraltar, fearful of a coronavirus epidemic among its famous Barbary monkeys, have banned tourists from touching the animals. The macaques, Europe's only wild population of monkeys, are a popular tourist attraction, and local folklore has it that Gibraltar would cease to be British if the monkeys were to leave the Rock. With the arrival of the coronavirus, it "will be taking strict measures to prevent contact with the macaques," the government said in a statement late Friday.

Rare cognac fetches record price at auction: Sotheby's

Auctioneers Sotheby's said on Thursday that an "exceedingly rare" bottle of Cognac preserved since the end of the 19th century had set a new auction sales price record. The cognac, bought by an Asian private collector, was known as "Grand Frère" -- or the "Big Brother" -- of the trio, the auction house added. Its little sister is housed in the museum of the French cognac distillery Maison Gautier, while its little brother was sold at auction in New York in 2014.