Daily News

[Jimbuna]

Pictures of Harry Kane statue 'kept in storage since 2020' emerge

Photos have emerged showing a statue of England captain Harry Kane, which has apparently been languishing in storage in east London for more than three years.

The statue's existence was confirmed last month, having reportedly been completed in 2020 - one year after it was commissioned by Waltham Forest Council.

The images, first obtained by the Big Issue, show a metallic Kane sitting on a green bench and holding a football on his thigh with his left hand.

England's record goalscorer, who now plays for Bayern Munich after moving from Tottenham Hotspur last summer, is said to have been positive about the statue.

In February, his representatives were quoted as saying they "will be happy to go" to unveil the artwork once the location has been decided.

Potential locations, according to The Guardian, had included Chingford Rail Station and Ridgeway Park, which is where Walthamstow-born Kane played football as a youngster.

But a permanent home for the statue remains undetermined.

The pictures, reportedly sent to the council by Sculpture Machine, have caused a stir on social media, with some questioning whether a footballer should be sitting on a bench in this way and others poking fun at its chocolate appearance.
https://news.sky.com/story/pictures-...merge-13099369

[Jimbuna]

Trillions of cicadas to emerge across US 'in biggest invasion in centuries'

Trillions of cicadas are about to emerge in parts of the US in numbers not seen in decades and possibly centuries.

People in the southeast of the US are set for a "sight to behold", experts say, as periodical cicadas - which usually surface every 13 years - will emerge coinciding with another brood which come out in a 17-year cycle this spring.

While annual cicadas, which are bigger and greener than their black-bodied cousins, can be found anywhere in the world, periodical bugs, which are black in colour and have red, bulging eyes, can only be found in North America.

The dual emergence of the periodical cicadas, who are infamous for how loud they can be, is a rare phenomenon and is estimated to have last happened 221 years ago in 1803, when Thomas Jefferson, one of America's founding fathers, was US president.

University of Connecticut cicada expert John Cooley called the upcoming duel invasion "cicada-geddon".

At times mistaken for locusts, the bugs' buzzing can reach a volume of 110 decibels.

"Periodic cicadas don't do subtle," Mr Cooley said.
https://news.sky.com/story/trillions...uries-13106405

[Jimbuna]

Rare lion-tailed macaque stolen from Leipzig Zoo in Germany

A rare macaque has been stolen during a raid on a zoo in Germany.

Leipzig Zoo says the female lion-tailed macaque - named Ruma - was stolen from its cage during a "violent" overnight break-in.

Police in Germany have launched an investigation.

"We do not know what motive is behind the theft, but we are extremely concerned about the welfare of the animal, whose proper care requires expert knowledge," the zoo said in a statement.

"We very much hope that the animal will be secured unharmed or returned."

Police in the German state of Saxony, where Leipzig is located, said the burglary took place overnight on Saturday, 30 March.

"On the night from Saturday to Sunday, unknown persons entered the grounds of the Leipzig Zoo and then forcibly opened the monkey's enclosure," Polizei Sachsen said in a statement.

"They then stole a female monkey and fled the premises.

"Police have secured traces and put the monkey on a wanted list."

Officers are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to contact them.

Lion-tailed macaques are a species of Old World monkey, native to the forests of the Western Ghats mountain range in India.

The primates are easily recognised by the striking grey or silver mane that surrounds their face and the lion-like, black tail tuft at the tip of their tail.

Only a few thousand lion-tailed macaques are thought to exist, and they are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
https://news.sky.com/story/rare-lion...rmany-13106817

[Jimbuna]

Missing dog turns up nine months later - and 2,000 miles from home

A dog missing from California has been reunited with its owners after turning up almost nine months later - and more than 2,000 miles away from the family home.

Terrier mix Mishka went missing from San Diego in mid-July last year and her owners' social media pleas for information failed to deliver any leads.

Fast forward nearly nine months and just before Easter, authorities in suburban Detroit, Michigan, responded to a call about a stray dog.

Police in Harper Woods picked the pooch up and contacted animal welfare group The Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society.

They soon discovered three-year-old Mishka had been chipped with information about her owner, who lives in San Diego, on the US west coast.

Mehrad Houman and his family were planning to travel to Minnesota when they got the call about Mishka being found.

Once the flight landed, he drove 10 hours to Michigan for an emotional reunion.

"This is a tale that Hollywood would love to tell," the adoption society said in a social media post.

Mishka had disappeared from Mr Houman's workplace and Corinne Martin, director of the animal welfare group, believes the dog was "stolen and then it was sold and ended up in Michigan".

After being checked over and given a rabies shot, Mishka was cleared to return to her California home.

"She was clean [and] well-fed. Whoever had her took good care of her," vet Nancy Pillsbury told The Associated Press.

"How she got here - that's a story only Mishka knows."
https://news.sky.com/story/missing-d...-home-13108010

[Moonlight]

Were Covid patients left to die against their wishes? Care homes under pressure to issue Do Not Resuscitate forms. Signatures forged on vital paperwork. And helpless families kept in the dark about their loved ones' final hours...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...st-wishes.html

The Killing Fields Of Scotland.
The Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry has brought up some horrendous practices by some of Scotland's Medical Professionals, after its finished there should be a police investigation into who were forging these DNRs, who were the medical professionals in charge of obtaining these DNRs, and who were the executives at NHS Scotland who sanctioned it all.

Well, from what I've just been reading these Medics were playing at being God, lives weren't being saved, in fact they were handing out death sentences on a daily basis, nobody will ever get to the bottom of this scandal as self preservation will kick in and the guilty ones will get off scot free.

[Jimbuna]

Tiny Sicilian island giving away goats as tensions grow over rapidly expanding animal population

A tiny remote island off the coast of Sicily has started donating its 600 goats, with the animals overwhelming the human population of just 100.

Local mayor Riccardo Gullo told Sky News the goats were creating "tension" among the local community as they were wreaking havoc on the environment, storming people's homes and eating their crops.

Mr Gullo said it all started with a few goats supposedly escaping from their owner and going on to reproduce themselves to a point where they have now become too hard to manage.

"They represented a problem, you would meet them everywhere," he said.

"Six hundred goats have been counted - the island is really small, so they're really too many."

With pictures showing the goats grazing on what appears to be residents' back gardens, the mayor said measures had to be taken to contain them following "massive damage" on the island, the smallest of the volcanic Aeolian archipelago in southern Italy.

"Some goats are nice and robust, so some people are scared, while others fear they will enter their home," said Mr Gullo.

The plan to offer the goats to whoever sought to breed them has so far been successful, the mayor said, with requests coming from as far as the central Italian region of Tuscany and Lombardy, in the north of Italy.

While the offer expires on 10 April, there are no restrictions on who can apply for a goat or any limit on how many of the wild animals one can request.

"It's a random delivery without conditions, a special gift," the mayor of the Comune di Lipari, which administers Alicudi, said.

Gloria, owner of the Golden Cafe Noir at Alicudi's port, welcomed the plan but questioned how it would work logistically.

She told The Guardian the goats have become "too many", with one of the animals also visiting her business.

While it attracted attention at first, Gloria was concerned the goat could turn aggressive towards one of her customers.

Pointing to how it may be a struggle to get the goats transferred from the top of the mountainous, cone-shaped island, she said: "How will they bring the goats back down? Perhaps they would need a helicopter to transfer two or three at a time.

"It's a nice proposal, but there is no logistical solution yet."
https://news.sky.com/story/italy-tin...ation-13107661

[Eisenwurst]

https://www.timeout.com/news/out-of-...istrict-030824

I'm really surprised it's taken this long, the local gov't has shown some guts.

The poor girls have been openly propositioned in the street, one had $10K and a hotel key thrust at her with a demand for sex, one had her kimono ripped off by some prick that chased her down the street.

Cigarette butts flicked at them, being mobbed for photos and selfies, being stalked, the list goes on.....

Obnoxious tourists.....a lot of them don't deserve a passport and shouldn't be allowed to leave their country.

As the local gov't says "It's not a theme park, it's a residential district."

On a side note, we get a lot of tourists down here in Sydney and I gotta say the recent post covid ones have a hell of a lot of obnoxious types amongst them. I've come close to losing my temper a few times.

[Jimbuna]

Trespassing bird causes travel chaos at Brighton station

A bird trespassing on train tracks at Brighton station caused an hour-and-a-half of disruption during rush hour.

Thameslink was forced to close three platforms at about 7pm while the power was switched off and the herring gull was removed.

Services that were affected included Brighton to London and the Gatwick Express, with disruptions lasting until about 8.20pm.

The rail operator posted on X advising passengers to leave 20 minutes early to complete their journeys and check departure information regularly.

Several people replied to Thameslink asking if the news was a late April Fool joke, and questioning whether herring gulls are actually endangered.

One traveller complained that "numerous trains" had been cancelled and operators had left them "stranded in the rain".

Thameslink later said apologised for the inconvenience the incident caused to passengers, adding that the bird was safely removed from the railway.

"We're glad this had a happy ending," it said, sharing a photo of the young gull.

Despite the herring gull being a common sight in seaside resorts, the species has been on the Birds of Conservation Concern's (BCC) red list since 2009, because of ongoing population decline.

The red status means the species has been identified by the BCC as subject to "an increasing level of conservation concern".

The list is compiled by the UK's leading bird conservation organisations, including the RSPB, and identifies conservation priorities for birds.
https://news.sky.com/story/trespassi...ation-13106911

[Sean C]

Originally Posted by Eisenwurst

https://www.timeout.com/news/out-of-...istrict-030824

My wife and I were in Gion in late September of 2010. We saw a guy stalking a Geisha. He was following her, dashing from one hiding spot to the next, just behind her. We didn't know what to do ... we had only been in this very different foreign country for a few days at that point.


Part of me is glad that the Japanese are now protecting the Geisha. Part of me is sad that outsiders will no longer be able to experience Gion. It really is a very beautiful place.