A young Antarctic Emperor penguin has taken a rare wrong turn and ended up stranded on a New Zealand beach.
Emperor penguins typically spend their entire lives in Antarctica and almost never make landfall near humans. It has been 44 years since a wild Emperor penguin was last sighted in New Zealand.
Conservation experts say it probably took to the water several months ago to search for squid and krill and lost its way. (PA)
Record ratings
A Norwegian public television programme that allows viewers to enjoy a 134-hour fjord cruise live from their homes scored record ratings and sent the ship company’s share price soaring on Monday.
Last weekend, some 2.5 million Norwegians – or roughly half the Scandinavian country’s population – tuned in to NRK2 to follow the channel’s self-proclaimed “longest TV programme in the world”.
The show broadcasts live from the MS NordNorge, one of the Hurtigruten company’s coastal cruisers sailing from the southwestern city of Bergen and up the coast through the spectacular fjords to its northernmost point, with frequent stops along the way.
The coastal voyage is considered one of the world’s most beautiful cruises. (AFP)
Feeling flush
A Scottish businessman flushed hundreds of pounds in supposedly fake notes down the toilet, only to be told days later that they were genuine.
The man, who asked not to be named, said he had obtained around £200 (€226) in £20 notes from an ATM on the Isle of Lewis off the north coast of Scotland, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland refused to accept them amid warnings of a suspected counterfeiting operation and the businessman tore them up and put them down the toilet.
But Inspector Robbie MacDonald, of the Northern Constabulary, said tests by Britain’s Serious and Organised Crime Agency later discovered that they were genuine. (AFP)
Papal history
The online auction site eBay, with a plethora of things up for sale, recently put on the block a bit of papal history, the identity card of Albino Luciani, who later became Pope John Paul I.
The card issued in 1976 when he was the Cardinal of Venice sold for €5,200 on eBay, and the money will be used for humanitarian activities, the Italian newspaper Il Gazzettino reported yesterday.
The identity card was put up for sale on eBay by a member of a religious order who said he wanted to raise money for charity. The identity of the buyer was not released. (AFP)
‘Uncool’ caps
Surf life savers in Australia voted to retain their signature red and yellow patrol cap after coming under pressure to dump the headwear because it was “uncool”.
Surf Life Saving Australia surveyed its members after two New South Wales clubs raised concerns that the cap was turning off younger members.
But a national survey showed only five per cent of members wanted to get rid of what many consider a much-loved fixture on Australia’s sun-drenched beaches.
The red and yellow quartered patrol cap has been part of Australia’s Surf Life Saving movement since it was introduced in the 1930s as a means of identifying lifeguards on the beach. It became mandatory in the 1980s. (AFP)
Interview errors
Jobseekers have taken their mother to an interview, sent other members of their family in their place or even turned up carrying a cockatoo, according to a new report.
A list of interview “blunders” drawn up by recruitment firm Robert Half revealed that one candidate phoned his parents half-way through being questioned to say things were going well.
Other notable mistakes included a candidate who sang all of her responses to interview questions and another who handcuffed himself to the desk during an interview. (PA)
Out on a limb
Police in Arizona are investigating a hit-and-run accident that left one man in critical condition and another dead – one of them with his leg missing from the crash scene.
The two pedestrians were struck as they were crossing a street.
Officers say it is possible the missing leg could be attached to the vehicle, or may have been disposed of by the driver. (PA)
Sleeping driver
A drink-driving doctor who got behind the wheel of his car while sleepwalking has been banned from driving for 12 months.
Donald Clegg, 59, from Prestwich, Bury, had asked magistrates to suspend any driving ban for “special reasons” due to his state of “parasomnia”, in that he was not aware of what he was doing while sleepwalking.
But magistrates said, while they accepted Dr Clegg was sleepwalking, they decided not to use special powers to suspend any driving ban. (PA)