Man nabbed for plotting Israeli PM’s assassination
Jerusalem: Police in Israel have nabbed a 52-year-old resident of Netanya city after he allegedly threatened to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a media report said Saturday.
The suspect’s motives were not initially clear, nor were details of his threat, Jerusalem Post reported citing Israeli Radio.
The threat came to light during a conversation with a social worker. The social worker informed police and the man was arrested in his home.
Tension on the political front in Israel has been high as the country is going to vote in March 2015, following Netanyahu’s dismissal Tuesday of Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Hatnua chairperson Tzipi Livni from their posts as ministers. The remaining four ministers in Yesh Atid resigned two hours later.
The next day, the Knesset voted to dissolve itself and new elections were called for March 17, 2015. (IANS)
‘Ghost ship’ discovered off Hawaii coast
Washington: Researchers have discovered an intact “ghost ship” in 2,000 feet of water off the coast of Oahu – the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands.
The wreckage of the former cable ship Dickenson, later the USS Kailua, was found in good shape on the seabed last year on a maritime heritage submersible mission.
“The ship was surprisingly intact for a vessel that was sunk with a torpedo. The upper deck structures from the bow to the stern were well-preserved and showed no sign of torpedo damage,” said Terry Kerby, Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory’s (HURL) submersible pilot.
Launched in Chester, Pennsylvania in early 1923 for the Commercial Pacific Cable Company, Dickenson was a vital part of a global network of submarine cable that carried telecommunications around the world.
“From her interisland service to her role in Pacific communications and then World War II, Dickenson today is like a museum exhibit resting in the darkness, reminding us of these specific elements of Pacific history,” noted Hans Van Tilburg from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
During the World War II, the former USS Kailua was sunk as a target by submarine torpedo fire on February 7, 1946.
The exact location was not recorded, and the final resting place of the ship had remained a mystery.
“Seeing the ship come into view, we were all amazed at its level of preservation – and by the fact that everything was more or less in place.
“The identification of the wreck was easy, not only because of its unique form, but also because the Navy’s identification number of IX-71 was still painted on the bow,” said James Delgado, director of the Maritime Heritage Programme. (IANS)
Britain names cities for testing driver-less cars
London: Britain has named four cities to test driver-less cars in the coming year. Innovate UK, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, said Wednesday the four cities would be Greenwich, Milton Keynes, Coventry and Bristol, Xinhua reported.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne also announced 10-million-pound ($15.7 million) funding for the programme in his statement Wednesday.
Innovate UK said the trials would last between 18 and 36 months from January 2015, which could help lead to great levels of understanding of these kind of vehicles run in a real-world environment, as well as make people see how they fit into everyday life.
The programme aims at establishing Britain in the global hub for research, development and integration of driver-less vehicles and associated technologies.
“Cars that drive themselves would represent the most significant transformation in road travel since the introduction of the internal combustion engine and at Innovate UK, we want to help the UK to lead the world in making that happen,” said Nick Jones, lead technologist of Innovate UK.
“There are so many new and exciting technologies that can come together to make driver-less cars a reality, but it’s vital that trials are carried out safely, that the public have confidence in that technology and we learn everything we can through the trials so that legal, regulation and protection issues don’t get in the way in the future,” he added. (IANS)
UK’s Prince William to meet Obama at White House
WASHINGTON: Britain’s Prince William will meet with US President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Monday, part of a visit to Washington to a conference on illegal trafficking of ivory and other wildlife, the White House said.
The visit is part of a trip next week to New York City by William and his wife, Kate, known officially since their 2011 wedding as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
“The president welcomes the prince’s work in this global fight against what is both a national security threat and a devastating environmental problem,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. (Agencies)
Attempted selfie leads to a raccoon’s death
New York: An American football player ended up killing a raccoon after the furry animal bit him while he attempted to click a selfie with the animal.
Jack Gangwish, 21, tried to take a photo of himself with a raccoon but it attacked him, biting him in the calf, the Lincoln Journal-Star reported.
“Guys.. I got bit by a raccoon.. It just looked so soft and friendly, I couldn’t help it,” Gangwish tweeted (tweets now deleted).
He then grabbed a crescent wrench to subdue the raccoon, but unfortunately for the raccoon, “it was death by crescent wrench,” Gangwish was quoted as saying.
Gangwish carried the animal carcass to get it tested for rabies. (IANS)
UK mom raises cash for X-mas selling her breast milk
London: A 26-year-old British mother has raised 3,000 pounds to meet her Christmas expenses by selling her breast milk online, a media report said on Saturday.
Rebecca Hudson said that when her daughter was born ten weeks ago she was not producing milk, but later it came in ‘bucket loads,’ the mum-of-four from Manchester said. Appearing on a TV show today, she said since her youngster was premature, she only required three ounces of milk, meaning Rebecca had an excess of milk, the Daily Mirror reported.
She said: “I didn’t want to pour it away because it takes a lot of work to produce breast milk.” “So I thought, if I can make money for my children,” Rebecca was quoted by the paper as saying, “I don’t see the harm.” She then went online and found there were other women in the US already selling their milk.
She has eight regular customers and sells the milk at 12.50 pounds a bottle. More unusual customers include a bodybuilder who uses the milk for nutrition, food enthusiasts who cook with it, and people who it for sexual thrills, it said. “What they do with milk is up to them, I’m not going to discriminate,” she said. Rebecca said her friends and family members were surprised by how much money she had made. (PTI)
World’s oldest 2-faced cat dies
Boston: Frank and Louie, the world’s oldest Janus cat — a feline with two faces — has died at the age of 15, his owner said on Friday.
A Guinness World Record holder, the cat passed away at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tuft’s University yesterday after veterinarians euthanized him as he was suffering from a “really bad cancer”, owner Martha “Marty” Stevens of Worcester, Massachusetts said. Frank and Louie had been “a little down” around Thanksgiving and she was administering some fluids, but yesterday morning it appeared the cat was getting sicker and she raced to Tufts, Stevens told the Telegram newspaper. The clinic later told her that Frank and Louie was critically ill.
When she arrived, the cat was euthanized after veterinarians told her he was probably suffering from a “really bad cancer.” While she is devastated, Stevens said she knows the cat initially had no chance at all after being brought into the clinic to be put to sleep in September of 1999. Janus cats typically do not live more than a few days and are often rejected by their mothers. (PTI)