World Briefs

Two thousand years after they were written and decades after they were found in desert caves, some of the world-famous Dead Sea Scrolls are available online.

Israel’s national museum and the international web giant Google are behind the project, which put five scrolls online yesterday. They include the biblical Book of Isaiah.

Google’s technology allows surfers to search the scrolls for specific passages and translate them into English.

The scrolls available online were purchased by Israeli researchers between 1947 and 1967. They were originally found by Bedouin shepherds in the Judean Desert.

They are held at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Google is also working with Israel to make the first comprehensive and searchable database of the broader collection of scrolls. The website address is http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/ . (AP)

Piranha beach

Authorities in a state in Brazil’s northeast are scrambling to take the fright and the bite off the beach after piranhas sunk their teeth into about 100 beachgoers, UOL Noticias reported.

The problem – rather fearsome given piranhas’ horror-movie teeth and ability to sink them into human flesh – has been the biggest at the main beach area in Piaui state; authorities said they need to act fast to reduce a piranha overpopulation situation.

Last weekend, at least 100 bathers were treated at the hospital in Jose de Freitas not far from Terezina, Piaui’s capital, after being bitten on the heels or toes at the local beach.

“Since they have no predators, piranhas have started attacking people on the beach,” said a local environment official. (AFP)

Cash dispenser attack

A woman who launched a “senseless” attack on a cash machine with her high-heeled shoe, hitting it almost 50 times, has been given a conditional caution, UK police said yesterday.

In CCTV released by Wiltshire Police, the 39-year-old woman was seen approaching the Barclays cash dispenser in Chippenham before removing her shoe and striking the machine repeatedly.

Police described the incident as “senseless and inane” and launched an appeal for the blonde-haired woman, who wore a white top. The footage showed the woman standing at the cash machine for several minutes before launching her attack. She appeared to make a second attempt to use the machine before removing her shoe again to repeat the attack. (PA)

Strip protest

Thousands of people stripped to their underwear and ran through Salt Lake City to protest over what they say are Utah’s restrictive laws.

Undie Run organiser Nate Porter said the aim was to organise people frustrated by the conservative nature of the state’s politics.

Nudity was prohibited by organisers. Participants donned bras, knickers, nightgowns, swimwear or colourful boxer shorts. (PA)

Lost

False teeth, a stuffed otter, a telescope and a fully-dressed male mannequin are among the items handed in to police stations as lost property.

Other “unusual” items dealt with by police forces across Scotland include a towelling bath robe, garden gnomes, snowboards, vacuum cleaners, microwaves, an exercise mat and a garden bench.

A freedom of information (FOI) request revealed that in the past two years almost 200,000 items of lost property have been handed in by members of the public. (PA)

Testing time

Lifeguards at a popular Cornwall beach had to carry out one final rescue from the water at the end of the summer season - their own truck.

RNLI lifeguards were returning from Booby’s Bay to Constantine, near Padstow in north Cornwall, where they had been giving safety advice to swimmers, when their Mitsubishi L200 patrol vehicle became stuck in soft sand.

Despite their attempts to free the vehicle – something they are trained to do – the incoming tide claimed the vehicle before they could free it. Steve Instance, RNLI lifeguard inspector, said that it had launched an investigation after the patrol vehicle was eventually recovered. (PA)

Cat litter

A study has discovered that an unexpected material could prove to be an invaluable tool for crime scene investigators trying to catch arsonists – cat litter.

Traces of petrol on hard surfaces such as concrete can more easily be detected using the absorbent material than by any other substance, according to a study by forensic scientists at Anglia Ruskin University.

Most brands of cat litter contain the mineral sodium bentonite, which retains petrol on its surface. Garry White, a PhD student at the university, said: “Our research has shown that cat litter is the best product available and, most importantly, fulfils the criteria laid down by UK courts.” (PA)