Melbourne: The skeletal remains of an elderly Australian woman were found in her Sydney house, where she lay dead for eight years, before a worried relative sought police help to find the lady.
Police said the woman was dead for up to eight years but the neighbours and relatives had been oblivious of the fact. In fact, neighbours assumed the house was long deserted.
No one bothered to call the police, not her relatives, neighbours or even civic and government authorities who kept on paying her welfare benefits into a bank account that remained untouched, Australian news agency AAP reported.
It was finally her sister-in-law who called the police to tell them that she had not heard from her relative, who would have turned 87 next month, since 2003. “Upon entering an upstairs bedroom at the Surrey hill home, police stumbled upon skeletal remains on the floor,” the police said. The power supply to the home had been cut off years earlier and the mail did not stack up on the front door as her post was redirected since 2003 to another address. Even government agencies neglected her with the state welfare continuing to send her pension cheques that were never cashed. The local council also failed to notice that she was unduly late on her taxes. A sad city police official said, “this should serve as a reminder to keep a neighbourly eye on people living in their areas, after neighbours said they had assumed that the woman whose name was not disclosed by the police had moved away”. (PTI)
777lb hamburger cooked sets new world record
London: Grill chefs at the Alameda County Fair prepared the largest commercially available hamburger last week, bringing the world record to America in time of Independence Day.
The massive 777lb burger – which included a 110lb bun, 20lbs of onions, 12lbs of pickles and 30lbs of lettuce – beat the previous record holder, a Canadian creation that weighed a measly 595lbs, reports the Daily Mail.
Nick Nicora, of Ovation Food Services, told CBS: “The old record was held in Canada and we wanted to bring it home to America on the 4th of July.”
The massive burger contains around 1,375,000 calories – enough to feed one person for almost two years.
Bits of the mega-burger were sold off for 99 cents at the fair, with proceeds going to the Alameda County Food Bank. Officials from the Guinness Book of Records were at the fair to verify if the burger had set a new record. (ANI)
Prisoner’s bid to flee jail in suitcase foiled
MEXICO CITY: A Mexican prisoner hoped to take a trip to freedom by packing himself into his girlfriend’s suitcase. But guards at the jail in the southeastern town of Chetumal grew suspicious when the woman seemed nervous as she wheeled out the bulging bag after a conjugal visit with the prisoner. (Agencies)
School found using bomb as bell
KAMPALA: A mine awareness team in Uganda was horrified to find an unexploded bomb being used as a bell when they visited a school to teach children how to spot bombs, a local newspaper reported.
The Anti-Mine Network organization saw teachers banging the bomb with stones to call children to lessons in a 700-pupil school in a rural area, the Daily Monitor said. (Agencies)
Austrian youths find, turn in more than 10,000 euros
VIENNA: Two youths discovered more than 10,000 euros ($14,550) in an envelope and handed the money in to the Salzburg lost and found bureau on Monday, officials in the Austrian city said. ”We were surprised ourselves by the size of the find,” bureau head Kurt Hinteregger said. ”That doesn’t happen every day.” (Agencies)
Sleepy in Siberia cured by ‘charming’ Chechnya
MOSCOW: The firebrand leader of Russia’s Muslim Chechnya has said an extended stay in the volatile region is to thank for curing a Siberian girl of a rare sleeping disorder.
Ramzan Kadyrov was touched by the plight of Sasha Pisarenko, a nine-year-old who doctors said suffered from the only case of narcolepsy in Russia, according to a website. (Agencies)
Perennial champion again wins hot dog eating contest
NEW YORK: Holding aloft a trophy in one hand and a bottle of Pepto-Bismol in the other, Joey Chestnut on Monday was top dog once again. Chestnut was declared world champion for the fifth year running at the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at New York’s Coney Island after stuffing 62 hot dogs down his throat in 10 minutes. (Agencies)
Brits would like to see Pippa on banknote
London: A survey has found that Pippa Middleton is one of the top three celebrities Britons would most like to see on a banknote.
The 27-year-old’s butt fame has gone so far that experts have mocked up a tenner, complete with her famous curvy bottom, the Daily Star reported.
The design also features party kit, as an approval to her family’s successful business, and running shoes to symbolise her love of marathons.
One in four of those polled by T-Mobile put the royal bridesmaid as favourite to boot naturalist Charles Darwin off the back of the tenner. (ANI)
Royals’ Quebec visit appears to be winning gamble
QUEBEC CITY: Anti-monarchist protesters failed to disrupt the visit of Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate to Quebec, which was the most politically sensitive portion of their Canadian royal tour. A group estimated by local reporters at about 200 people used loudspeakers on Sunday to decry the royal family and call for sovereignty for the French-speaking province, but they were kept far away from the couple in Quebec City. (Agencies)