World Briefs

Turf grass with the image of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the slogan “Get Ready for the 2018 WC” is available for purchase on the Russian internet.

Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid that he was looking into the report, but the Russian Prime Minister never authorised for his use of the image.

The paper said the bags of seeds were probably put on sale immediately after Russia last week was awarded the rights to stage the 2018 World Cup – a campaign spearheaded by Mr Putin himself. (AFP)

Policeman fines himself

A Polish police officer handed himself a fine in order to meet a quota of one penalty a day set down by his chief, a newspaper reported yesterday.

The daily Gazeta Wyborcza said that the policeman in Bialogard wrote himself a 20-zloty (€5) ticket for walking on a railway line.

The officer, identified by the paper only as Sergeant Andrzej T., was trying to respect rules laid down by the local police chief.

As part of a law-and-order drive in the community of 20,000, the police department’s leadership told officers to issue at least one fine a day or face a pay cut, the newspaper reported. (AFP)

98-year-old guilty of trying to murder wife

A 98-year-old German man was convicted yesterday of trying to murder his wife after 52 years of marriage using a gun, a baseball bat and a knife. He was given a two-year suspended jail sentence.

The man – the oldest person ever to stand trial in Berlin, according to the court – fired blank ammunition at his 74-year-old wife using a starter pistol, thinking it was loaded with live rounds. When he realised his wife was unharmed, he struck her repeatedly on the head and upper body with the bat and then tried to slit her wrists and throat.

His wife exercised her right not to appear as a witness. (AFP)

Cat-astrophe survivor

Five years after disappearing in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, a grey and white cat named Scrub has been reunited with his Mississippi family

The seven-year-old cat was taken to a shelter near Biloxi by a woman who had fed him as a stray for a couple of months. He was identified by a microchip.

Scrub’s owner, Jennifer Noble, said she was sceptical at first when she received a call from the shelter. But by the end of the first night back, Scrub had snuggled in bed with one of her sons. (PA)

Villainous prank

A 17-year-old boy has been arrested for allegedly throwing a creamed spinach dish in the face of a worker at a California restaurant drive-through.

Police say the 21-year-old worker at a Boston Market in Roseville suffered second-degree face and neck burns in what appeared to be a prank known as “fire in the hole”, in which people video themselves throwing food or drinks into the faces of drive-through workers.

The teenager turned himself in and was booked on suspicion of committing battery causing great bodily harm. (PA)

Bare essentials

Business students at a Georgia University were given an unexpected anatomy lesson.

Part-time lecturer Raymond Taylor, 57, stripped off while teaching a class at the suburban Kennesaw State college.

He was arrested and charged with public indecency after a student reported him to university officials.

Mr Taylor was released on a $5,000 bond. (PA)

Woman rescued from wild pigs

A Frenchwoman had to be rescued by helicopter after she got stuck in a tree where she took refuge from a herd of wild pigs she ran into while strolling in a valley.

The 30-year-old was walking near Bagneres-de-Luchon on Monday when she took fright after seeing the boars and climbed up a nearby tree.

When she later tried to climb down she fell two metres and got stuck in branches from where she called rescue services with her GPS-equipped mobile phone and was able to give them her exact location. (AFP)

Cheetah on the run

A cheetah was captured roaming the streets of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates.

Onlookers watched it swim in the sea and then walk past a hotel and offices before being cornered and handed over to animal rescuers. (PA)