World Briefs

A stolen sketch by Dutch master Rembrandt was found at a California church, about 20 miles from the luxury hotel lobby it was snatched from over the weekend, authorities have said.

The 17th century drawing was taken from a private art display at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in upmarket Marina del Rey on Saturday while a curator was momentarily distracted by someone who seemed interested in buying another piece.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said: “When the curator turned back to the Rembrandt, it was gone.” He said at least two people worked together to take the artwork, but it is not clear whether the person talking to the curator was connected to the theft.

Detectives got a tip-off from an anonymous caller on Monday evening, saying the sketch was in the church in Encino, San Fernando Valley, Mr Whitmore said.

The Rembrandt drawing was valued at $250,000 (€173,000) and was being exhibited as part of a private display in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the upmarket seaside community of Marina del Rey.

The sketch was being displayed on an easel or wooden stand and was apparently not fastened down, Mr Whitmore said. (PA)

Police strike

Officials in Trinidad say about 25 per cent of the Caribbean country’s police officers have joined in a one-day strike.

A police union called for a day of “rest and reflection” as a way to protest against the government’s offer of a five per cent pay raise.

Soldiers have been seen accompanying police in the capital. Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs says most officers are working but “there has been some measure of absenteeism”. Mr Gibbs said the biggest number of officers who participated in the strike were assigned to courts.

Island invasion

Viking raiders have returned to Holy Island for the first time in more than 1,000 years.

A war party of the heavily armed, bearded heathens arrived on Lindisfarne, Northumberland, to launch a cultural festival.

The Vikings, played by members of the Norse Film and Pageant Society, were giving visitors a taste of how they secured their place as one of the most brutal races in history. Viking Week will take place at the priory until Sunday.

Landmark birthday

Scotland’s oldest woman has celebrated her 110th birthday.

Janet Roberts was born on August 13, 1901 and is the last surviving granddaughter of William Grant, who founded Glenfiddich Distillery in 1886.

Mrs Roberts, known as The Wee Ja to family and friends, is matriarch of the Grant family, which still owns and runs William Grant & Sons, one of the last independent distillers in Scotland. The company is best known for producing Glenfiddich, a single malt whisky.

Busy man

A man spotted using two mobile phones behind the wheel on a 70 mph road has been banned from driving.

Police spotted David Secker making a phone call with one hand and apparently sending a text message with the other, Norwich Magistrates’ Court heard. When officers pulled the 34-year-old over on a 70-mph dual carriageway on the outskirts of Norwich on May 17, they had to wait for him to finish his conversation.

Mr Secker, of Remmington Road, Norwich, was found guilty in his absence at an earlier hearing of using a mobile while driving, having no insurance and not being in a position to have proper control. He was given a total of 14 points on his licence and was banned for 12 months and fined £150.

Nicked, by gum

It was not his fingerprints that placed thief Milton Cesar de Jesus at the scene of the crime. It was his dentures.

They were found on the ground after a bag snatch in the town of Severini, Brazil.

Mr De Jesus at first denied owning the dentures, but then confessed to the crime after they fitted perfectly in his partially toothless mouth.

Carted off

A Slovenian man has been fined £1,300 for driving a horse-drawn cart under the influence of alcohol.

The 41-year-old had blood alcohol levels three times the legal limit for driving a car when he was operating a cart pulled by two horses.

Police seized his driver’s licence, although one is not needed for horse carts.