Officials from the Tower of London have been forced to change some of their locks after a set of keys was stolen.
Police have launched an investigation after an intruder managed to break in and steal the keys from the grounds of the London landmark. Tower chiefs insisted the Crown Jewels were never at risk of being stolen but admitted security procedures “were not carried out to the expected standard”.
The keys gave access to the Tower’s drawbridges as well as conference rooms and a restaurant, according to the Historic Royal Palaces, which runs the site. The Tower of London is famously guarded by the Yeoman Warders, or Beefeaters. (AP)
More gifts for pets than grandparents
Britain’s shoppers are more likely to buy gifts for their pets than they are for their grandparents this Christmas.
One in three consumers said they were planning to buy treats, toys and accessories for their pets, according to a report by SAS and Verdict.
The report found that 15.8 per cent of 10,000 shoppers surveyed said they were buying presents for their pets, compared with the 14.3 per cent buying for grandparents. (AP)
Veil security checks after escape
Indonesian police are tightening security checks on burka-clad visitors at prisons in the capital Jakarta after a convicted terrorist apparently escaped under the Islamic veil.
Roki Aprisdianto, 29, sentenced to six years behind bars in 2011, managed to escape from the Jakarta Police detention centre – home to 70 terrorist inmates – when 23 burka-clad women came to visit their husbands.
The convicted militant allegedly put on a burka smuggled in by a visitor, said police. Another inmate told police he saw Aprisdianto wearing a burka, but no one was recorded visiting him. (AP)
Up from the deep
Most of the jewellery recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic will be exhibited on a three-city tour of the US, its first public display since being salvaged from the ocean depths.
The jewellery is from a single purser’s bag found during a 1987 research and recovery mission.
The collection includes diamond and sapphire rings, brooches, necklaces, cuff links and a gold pocket watch. (AP)
‘Diamond’ swallower fined
A Chinese man who swallowed a fake stone in a daring bluff that allowed an accomplice to get away with a real diamond has pleaded guilty to aiding theft and was given a fine and two-year suspended jail term.
Colombo chief magistrate Rashmi Singappuli ordered the man to pay 100,000 rupees (€605) over the incident in September when he swallowed the fake stone at an annual gem exhibition. (AFP)
Rooftop tours of Stockholm’s old town
A group of Swedish and international tourists follow their guide during a Rooftop tour viewing Stockholm’s old town from top of a building at the Riddarholmen island in Sweden´s capital. Tourists can experience Rooftop tours both at Riddarholmen in Stockholm and in the northern city of Sundsvall, Sweden. (AFP)