Thousands of people set two new world records as they lit up about 3,700 flaming torches in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, organisers said.
A total of 3,777 people from 36 countries took part in the “largest torchlit image formed by people” and 3,690 people formed the “largest torchlit parade” at Jakarta stadium over the weekend, organisers said.
“It was awesome. There was slight rain but people still turned up. We sang, we celebrated love in the world, and we broke two world records. We were certified last night,” Yamal Hasmanan, spokesman for web-based “community group” Freedom Faithnet Global (FFG) which organised the events, said.
The first challenge required participants to light torches one by one and keep them lit for 10 minutes, while the second required them to carry their torches in a street procession lasting 45 to 50 minutes, Mr Hasmanan said.
“During the parade, some torches went out, so the number got smaller. But it’s okay... we still managed to break the record,” he said, adding that they were certified by Guinness World Records.
Norway’s butter shortage
An acute butter shortage in Norway, one of the world’s richest countries, has left people worrying how to bake their Christmas goodies with store shelves emptied and prices through the roof.
The shortfall, expected to last into January, amounts to between 500 and 1,000 tonnes, said Tine, Norway’s main dairy company, while online sellers have offered 500-gramme packs for up to €350.
The dire shortage poses a serious challenge for Norwegians who are trying to finish their traditional Christmas baking – a task which usually requires them to make at least seven different kinds of biscuits.
The shortfall has been blamed on a rainy summer that cut into feed production and therefore dairy output, but also the ballooning popularity of a low-carbohydrate, fat-rich diet that has sent demand for butter soaring.
Toy frog ‘rescued’ in Alps
A mountain rescuer said he was hired by a German couple to look for their toy frog that had tumbled from a 2,000-metre peak in the Austrian Alps.
After an eight-hour search costing Doris and Juergen Bellmann €425, the cuddly green toy, something of a lucky charm for the couple from near Munich, was found, rescuer Markus Fleischmann said.
“It wasn’t that dangerous a mission and, it being off-season, I had nothing better to do,” he said.
Doris Bellmann, 53, told the Heute daily that she was taking a photograph of her engineer husband and the frog on top of the 2,192-metre Hinteren Goinger Halt peak in the Austrian state of Tyrol last month.
Her husband, 54, then slipped. He was able to hang on and get back up again, but the frog tumbled to the depths below.
Selling cars during flights
Latvian airline airBaltic announced yesterday it was branching out into another business, claiming to be the world’s first carrier to sell cars during its flights.
From Friday, passengers on all airBaltic flights will be able to buy a Mini Cooper R56 – provided they have a spare €24,699.
They will be asked to make a €50 down payment while in the air and complete the purchase once they land.
“AirBaltic is the world’s first airline to start selling cars on board. Naturally, we still believe that flying is smarter than driving whenever possible,” the carrier’s German chief executive Martin Gauss said in a statement.