A French police dog credited with sniffing out 1,700 drugs suspects was yesterday decorated with a medal for bravery and dedication at a ceremony in Bordeaux.
Aldo, a Belgian Malinois sheepdog, has been behind 1,700 arrests since he started working for the Bordeaux police department in 2006 – almost one a day – and 475 arrests this year alone.
“Aldo is a police dog with an absolutely remarkable career,” said regional police chief Patrick Stefanini.
Regional public security official Pierre-Marie Bourniquel said that less than a dozen police dogs had been decorated in France. Aldo’s handler Didier Hude did not receive a medal. (AFP)
Thieves use itching powder
A number of livestock traders were robbed of their lucrative Eid-ul-Adha takings after thieves threw itching powder over them at a Mumbai market, a newspaper report said yesterday.
Several traders selling goats and sheep at the Deonar market were targeted in the run-up to the Muslim festival on Monday, which is marked by the ritual sacrifice of animals. One trader was robbed of his bag containing 261,000 rupees (€3,873) when he was distracted by trying to scratch the all-over itch.
According to one eye-witness the thieves picked up the bag and jumped over a three-metre boundary wall to escape. (AFP)
Election bare breast ‘joke’
A female Spanish election candidate quit the race yesterday after posting a fake photograph on her Facebook account of the country’s defence minister apparently showing a bare breast.
The conservative Popular Party candidate, Francisca Pol, apologised over the picture of Defence Minister Carme Chacon meeting with defence officials, altered to appear as if her shirt was open to reveal a breast. On her Facebook page, Ms Pol had reportedly commented: “What a Socialist Party minister has to do to win votes.”
Both the comment and the digitally enhanced photograph, which was widely shown in the Spanish media, have since been taken down from the candidate’s Facebook page. (AFP)
Amputee to row the Atlantic
A soldier who lost both legs in a bomb blast in Iraq is to compete in a 3,000 mile rowing race across the Atlantic.
Lieutenant Neil Heritage will spend up to 70 days at sea with five crew members when he departs from the Canary Islands in December. All the rowers in the team have served in the armed forces.
A husband and wife crew, a seniors’ team and an all female group will also be competing in the 2011 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, which follows the so-called Columbus Route west-bound across the mid-Atlantic.
Lt Heritage, 31, from Dorset, was in Iraq working for a a Royal Signals bomb disposal team in November 2004 when he lost both legs above the knee in a suicide bomb attack. (PA)