World Briefs

An Israeli chess grandmaster yesterday began a marathon chess match against 520 players in an attempt to beat the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games, currently held by Iran.

The tournament began under a blazing midday sun in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square with grandmaster Alik Gershon shaking hands with every single player as he walked along rows of tables lined with chess boards.

In order to set the world record, the Ukrainian-born Gershon must win at least 80 per cent of the games.

“I’m going to be breaking the Guinness world record for the biggest simultaneous chess game. The record today belongs to an Iranian grandmaster on 500 boards,” Mr Gershon said.

In the real world of geo-politics, Iran and Israel are arch-enemies. (AFP)

GPS chips in rhino horns

South African rangers yesterday announced a plan to implant GPS devices in the horns of rhinos in a new effort to combat rampant poaching.

The GPS chips link up to a computer monitoring station where park rangers track the rhinos. “The animal’s movements are then tracked 24/7 and if they are attacked, game rangers will be alerted via the alarms,” park enforcement officer Rusty Hustler said.

The alarm signal activates if the rhino lies inert for longer than is deemed normal, or becomes unusually active.

Poachers stalk rhinos by helicopter and tranquilise them with darts from hunting rifles. The horns are removed while the giant animals lie unconscious. (AFP)

Zoo shopping list

More than 1,700 pints of milk, 47 tonnes of hay and 33 tonnes of Canadian clover are just the start of London Zoo’s enormous annual shopping list, it revealed.

With more than 16,000 animals of 600 different species ranging from giraffes to bearded pigs, “feeding all of our animals is a mammoth task”, according to Nicky Jago, one of the zoo’s keepers.

The massive shopping list was released by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) showing just how much food and supplies the zoo got through between April 2009 and March this year. (PA)

Different missions

As the British Prime Minister and his deputy tucked into lunch at a primary school, they were seemingly unaware of police raiding addresses in the same area in a bid to crack down on drug dealers.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg enjoyed a meal of Quorn wrap with broccoli and new potatoes with children at Welbeck Primary School in The Meadows area of Nottingham.

But while they chatted with the children around their table, eating from blue mess trays, nearby police officers were carrying out a series of coordinated drug warrants in The Meadows. (PA)

Gory warning?

Police found a woman’s head in a bin bag next to a body in the street in Ciudad Juarez, in at least the fourth beheading in north Mexico since last week, justice officials have said.

An undisclosed message was written on a card next to the body, found late Tuesday, the attorney general’s office said.

Three decapitated bodies were last week hung by their feet off bridges in the border city of Tijuana, further west along the US-Mexico border.

Feuding drug gangs often use spectacular killings to send messages to each other, amid a wave of drug violence which has left more than 28,000 dead since 2006, according to official figures. (AFP)

Forgetful thief

Police in Tennessee say it was not too difficult to find a man accused of walking out of a Walmart store wearing stolen jeans - he left his old denims behind, with his wallet.

Officers later arrested 20-year-old Dustin Matthew Marshall and a 19-year-old woman who was with him.

A search of their home turned up evidence of other crimes. (PA)

Tell-tale signs

A California man was arrested after he tried to hitch a lift with a police officer and was found to have cocaine in his pocket.

Ongley Raymond Ocon III, 19, left a party in the early hours, walked up to a Redwood City police patrol car and asked for a lift home. When the officer asked if he was carrying anything illegal, Ocon initially responded “yes” before pausing and saying “no”.

Ocon, who agreed to be searched, was charged with possession of cocaine. (PA)

Benevolent benefactor

An anonymous benefactor stuffed $10,000 in cash into a September 11 donation box at the World Trade Centre, the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.

Officials believe the donation was made by a single person. They say the bills were crisp and unfolded, appearing to have been recently withdrawn from the bank.

They said they would love to know the donor’s name so they could say thank you. (PA)