World Briefs

A three-metre anaconda, which fell off a circus truck on a dusty steppe road, terrified residents of a small village in Kazakhstan for a day, one of its residents said.

A box containing the South American snake fell off a circus truck when traffic police briefly stopped it for a document check near the village of Aksu-Ayuly in central Kazakhstan, said Zhanara Ospanova, the village resident.

“A police officer asked the driver to open the back to show what he was carrying,” she said. “Afterward, the driver hadn’t shut the door tightly and when the truck moved, the box with the anaconda fell out.”

Police and emergency services spent a day looking for the non-venomous reptile around the village of some 6,000 residents.

The anaconda was eventually found in a metal box near a roadside café on the outskirts of the village located on the road connecting the vast Central Asian state’s capital Astana with its financial capital Almaty. (AFP)

Organ trafficking

Turkish police yesterday detained 20 people on suspicion of organ trafficking, Anatolia news agency reported. Among the detainees were several doctors, said Anatolia, adding that the operation was continuing and the number of arrests may increase. The suspects were taken to Istanbul police headquarters for questioning, it said.

In 2005, Turkey amended its penal code to explicitly define organ trafficking as a crime, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. (AFP)

Bowel cancer ops

Surgeons are testing a multimillion-pound robot that could significantly help to reduce the risk of bowel cancer returning.

The robot should make it easier to remove tumours without leaving behind abnormal cells. Just one cell can form a new cancer.

Surgeons watch magnified 3D pictures of the operation and have precise, rock-steady control of the instruments.

The University of Leeds is leading a worldwide trial, comparing the robot against standard keyhole techniques for removing bowel cancer. (PA)

Kitten survives spin

An eight-week-old cat managed to survive an hour-long washing machine cycle after sneaking in with a load of clothes.

Princess the kitten crept into the machine while owner Susan Gordon had her back turned and had to endure the full cycle, using up one of its nine lives in the process. Much to her horror, Susan, 49, noticed the bedraggled feline as she was unloading the machine.

Princess was quickly rushed to a veterinary surgery in Kingswells, Aberdeen, suffering from a nose bleed and sore eyes. The resilient kitten made a full recovery two days later (PA)

Journalist’s sentence

A Chinese journalist jailed in 2007 after reporting on corruption and due to be released this year has had his sentence extended, rights activists and his lawyer said yesterday. Qi Chonghuai, a veteran journalist who once wrote for the China Work Safety Production News, was sentenced to an extra eight years in jail after pledging to continue his anti-corruption campaign, Human Rights in China reported. (AFP)

Swiss apple

Switzerland will celebrate its founding this year with its own new apple species, the Galmac, adding a new twist to William Tell’s mythical apple-shot which indirectly led to Swiss in­dependence.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the apple “with a bright luminous skin, crispy, juicy and with a harmonious and refreshing taste”, will for the first time be commercially available nationwide.

Crucially, it will also ripen just before the August 1 national holiday.

Swiss Agriculture Ministry scientist Danilo Christen said that the apple, a cross between the Gala and Jerseymac apples, had been designed to reduce imports as it ripens earlier. However, the August 1 date was more of a marketing gimmick, he confessed. (AFP)

Buttocks death

The death of a Las Vegas woman who received a buttocks enhancement injection in a makeshift medical office was accidental, a post-mortem report has found. Elena Caro, 42, died from an adverse drug reaction after being injected with a gel in the back room of a tile store in April.

Ruben Matallana-Galvas and his wife Carmen Torres-Sanchez face charges of murder and practising medicine without a licence over her death. (PA)