The Duke of Cambridge has qualified as an operational search-and-rescue captain, Clarence House said yesterday.
Prince William – known as Flight Lieutenant Wales in the military – has previously only co-piloted RAF Sea King helicopters but will now be able to command operations. He completed two days of ground- and air-based tests to achieve the qualification, following two years of flying experience.
Prince William joined C Flight, 22 Squadron at RAF Valley in Anglesey in September 2010. The mock rescue scenarios saw him take part in an airborne search for a yacht, a search for two missing kayakers, a search for people in water and extinguishing a simulated fire on a large survey vessel.
Robbed and tax-probed
A Greek businessman got more than he bargained for when a complaint about a maid stealing a million euros earned him the unwelcome attention of the taxman.
After the millionaire reported the theft from a safe in his villa, prosecutors ordered the national fraud office SDOE to investigate whether the money had been properly declared.
He told police that the cash was proceeds from a recent property sale and that he was about to reinvest it, arguing that he thought his safe was more secure than putting it in the bank in the current crisis.
Model link to Axl Rose theft
French police have arrested a young model in connection with the theft of gold necklaces and diamonds worth around €160,000 from Guns ‘N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose.
Police said the woman was placed under formal arrest after she returned the items to a police station in Paris.
She said she had attended a private concert with around 100 people by the group at Bercy stadium and was not sure how she had come to leave with the jewellery.
Officers were called in to calm the situation on Tuesday after the 50-year-old singer was enraged over the theft. He is the only remaining band member of the original line-up.
Ministers boycott Euro 2012
UK ministers are boycotting the initial stages of the Euro 2012 football championship over concerns about alleged human rights abuses in Ukraine.
The Foreign Office said the government “fully supported” the England team’s participation in the tournament, but no ministers will be attending group stage matches amid anger over the treatment of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
The move comes after other European countries announced that senior politicians would boycott games played in Ukraine – which is co-hosting the event with Poland – unless the human rights situation under President Viktor Yanukovych improved.
Inbred issue for meerkats
They are known for their comical behaviour and ability to live in large social groups or “clans”. But a new study of meerkats in the wild has found that almost half are affected by inbreeding, harming their chances of survival.
The University of Edinburgh said researchers examined data from almost 2,000 meerkats in groups at the Kuruman River Reserve in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa.
They found 44 per cent showed some evidence of inbreeding and pups that were inbred were smaller, lighter and less likely to survive than their counterparts.