An enormous statue of John Paul II, unveiled in front of Rome’s central Termini station just weeks after the former Pontiff was put on the path to sainthood, has sparked controversy – with locals calling for it to go.
“We don’t want this statue, they have to get rid of it. It looks like a box and it’s embarrassing us in front of the tourists,” said an elderly woman.
“I really don’t like it, it looks like a sentry box,” said a priest who had come to watch the unveiling on Wednesday.
The five-metre high bronze statue, designed by the Italian artist Oliviero Rainaldi, depicts John Paul II smiling benignly on passers-by, the head supported by a structure with no body, but a large cloak which falls to the ground on three sides, leaving a gaping hole at the front.
Critics have claimed the monument is an eyesore which does nothing to capture John Paul’s spirit: “for many citizens it is ugly and doesn’t look much like the pope,” Italy’s Corriere della Sera said. (AFP)
Sex party
A German insurance firm admitted yesterday organising a sex party for its best-performing sales representatives in a Hungarian spa as part of an “incentive trip.”
A spokeswoman for insurance firm Ergo stressed, however, that this was a “serious breach of company regulations and will not be tolerated.”
The business daily Handelsblatt quoted one unnamed participant as saying that the guests were able to take the women to four-poster beds at the spa “and do whatever they liked.”
“After each such encounter the women were stamped on the lower arm in order to keep track of how often each woman was frequented,” the paper quoted the man as saying.
“The women wore red and yellow wristbands,” he added. “One lot were hostesses, the others would fulfil your every wish. There were also women with white wristbands. They were reserved for board members and the very best sales reps.” (AFP)
Mystery swarms
Swarms of bees mysteriously appeared at several air bridges at the Philippines main international airport yesterday, briefly interrupting the boarding of passengers.
The bees swarmed around the control panels of six air bridges, the mobile corridors that connect the aircraft to the terminal, preventing the operators from using the equipment, said airport media officer Consuelo Bungag.
“What we did was use the vacuum cleaners to clear them out of the control panels. We also resorted to manual swatting to hasten the process,” she said.
Passengers on two domestic flights were forced to board their flights using mobile stairs because of the insects. Airport authorities are working with the quarantine bureau to find out where the bees could have come from. (AFP)
Wrecking bet
A man who won more than £300,000 on a £1 horse bet said his brain was a “wreck” as he realised how much he had won.
Bookies William Hill said the Glasgow-based man, who wishes to stay anonymous, scooped £353,000 after winning a seven-horse accumulator bet.
The single father placed his 50p each-way accumulator on seven horses running at Brighton, Nottingham, Towcester and Kempton. He said he would spend his winnings on buying his own home, and planned to visit his sisters abroad. (PA)
Stray dogs
Stray dogs are part of daily life in Romania, where plans to put them down have triggered a howling debate.
Some 40,000 homeless canines live in Bucharest alongside a human population of two million. Now, a draft law is under debate in Parliament to contain the number of strays roaming Romania.
“Forty thousand stray dogs led to 13,000 people sustaining bites in 2010 and 11,000 in 2009,” Bucharest’s regional authority Mihai Atanasoaei said.
Four or five deaths due to dog bites have been recorded since 2004.
The stray dog debate was revived in January when a woman was bitten to death by several dogs as she tried to enter a warehouse they were guarding. (AFP)
Shark surprise
Stunned aquarium staff discovered that a shark they did not know they had has been living undetected in their ocean tank for years.
Staff at Blackpool Sea Life Centre were baffled when two shark eggs were discovered in a tank occupied by resident sharks which give birth only to live young. (PA)