World Briefs

A dog breeder saved his eight-week-old puppy with mouth-to-mouth after it almost drowned in a garden pond.

Quick-thinking John Greene gave motionless Jack Russell Nutty heart massage and the kiss of life in a frantic 10-minute rescue bid.

The 42-year-old Irishman from Greystones, Co Wicklow, was alerted to the exhausted animal sinking to the bottom of the pond when chickens he keeps in his backyard kicked up a commotion.

Nutty has made a full recovery although the pond remains off limits.

The dog lover ran outside his home in Greystones, Co Wicklow, pulled the freezing pup from the water and began heart massage and mouth-to-snout after feeling a very faint heartbeat every few seconds.” (PA)

In the bag

A woman in Vermont has been crowned America’s top grocery packer.

Krystal Smith, 24, beat 21 competitors by filling three grocery bags in 38 seconds in a Las Vegas final.

Contestants are judged on their ability to pack staples including bread, milk, eggs and canned goods and on their technique, weight distribution, style, attitude and appearance. (PA)

Bouncing biker

A stunt cyclist has climbed to the top of Europe’s tallest hotel by hopping up 921 steps.

It took Pole Krystian Herba 19 minutes and 27 seconds to get to the peak of the 614-foot, 52-storey Gran Hotel Bali in the Spanish holiday town of Benidorm.

Mr Herba bounced his way up, taking usually two steps at a time but sometimes three. (PA)

Cat burglar

A thieving feline has been caught on camera, stealing over 600 items from neighbors’ homes in a California town, reports said yesterday.

Dusty the cat burglar was videoed by a night-vision camera carrying everything from a bath sponge and a toy dinosaur to a neighbour’s bikini top down the street in San Mateo, south of San Francisco.

“Towels, gloves, shoes, socks and children’s toys,” owner Jean Chu told local ABC News TV, listing the various household goods her pet has brought home.

The feline was finally fingered for the theft of some 600 items over the last three years.

Infrared video of Dusty showed it carrying a string of stolen goods in his mouth, including one item of clothing so big and long that the cat’s back feet were splayed as it hobbled along the sidewalk, dragging its bounty. (AFP)

Mobile app

New Yorkers can now find free contraceptives with a mobile phone app launched by the city’s health department.

It finds the five nearest venues that distribute official NYC Condoms in wrappers printed with colourful subway maps or other city themes.

The app gives the opening hours for each location and directions by foot, car or public transport. It also offers tips on condom use. (PA)

Dental challenge

Having a tooth out would normally be a quick and simple procedure – but not if you are a 241-kilo polar bear.

Walker’s huge size meant that 10 people were needed to lift him on to the operating table.

The bear, who lives at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, needed dental surgery to remove an infected tooth after antibiotics failed to cure an infection which had left him with a swollen jaw. (PA)

Clumsy swindlers

Two Turkish swindlers have found themselves under a police investigation after they quarrelled and had a car crash while trying to cheat each other, Anatolia news agency reported.

The police arrested one of the men and launched a pursuit for the second who ran away after their car crashed in Manisa.

Unaware that they were both conmen, the two met for a gold deal: one arrived with a bag full of counterfeit gold coins, while the other carried bundles of forged banknotes. (AFP)