British explorer Pen Hadow announced yesterday he will make a scientific survey of the Arctic sea ice while attempting the first unsupported solo crossing of the Arctic Ocean.
The 1,000 mile coast-to-coast traverse of the Arctic Ocean from Russia to Canada, via the North Pole, will take place in February next year.
Mr Hadow, 50, who in 2003 became the first person to trek solo, without resupply, from Canada to the North Geographic Pole, will make the journey on foot with no resupplies or machines, dogs or kites.
During the 100 days of the trek, he will face some of the most extreme weather conditions on Earth, while managing encounters with hunting polar bears, and enduring repeated long distance swims between the ice floes.
Long wanted man is arrested
A man wanted in Italy on suspicion of murdering a police officer 30 years ago was arrested after being spotted queuing up in a London post office.
Gianfranco Techegne, 49, has been wanted by the Italian authorities since 1982 over the armed robbery of a car hire agency in Naples where the police officer was shot.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said he was detained after being seen in a post office opposite Scotland Yard and was remanded in custody when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Parking rules regularly flouted
According to a survey by car insurance company Sheilas’ Wheels, around 11 per cent of UK men admitted to regularly parking illegally, while nearly two in five drivers said parking regulations were confusing.
Unclear regulations topped the list of reasons for trying to avoid a parking fine followed by , “I was only gone briefly” and “I had a personal emergency”.
The poll of 1,006 adults showed that seven per cent regularly park in customer-only spaces when they are not a customer while 13 per cent use their children as look-outs to warn when parking wardens are about.
Of the 10 per cent who have been caught parking illegally in the last year, eight per cent of offenders have successfully appealed against their fine.
Napoleon’s disastrous retreat
History buffs from the Netherlands and other European countries have gathered in Lithuania to retrace Napoleon’s disastrous retreat from Russia exactly 200 years ago.
The enthusiasts, decked in period costumes and strolling alongside Napoleon-era carriages, attracted large crowds of onlookers in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
They intend to copy the 2,000-kilometre trek from Vilnius to France – through Poland, Germany and the Netherlands – that decimated Napoleon’s Grand Army in 1812.
The Dutch organisers hope to raise money for child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Solar-powered plane adventure
The Swiss team that built the world’s most advanced solar-powered plane is planning to head to the Mediterranean next month.
Adventurer Bertrand Piccard said the 2,500-kilometre trip from Switzerland to Morocco will take two days and see stopovers in Madrid and Rabat.
He added that the jumbo jet-sized prototype single-seater plane will face new challenges including crossing the Pyrenees mountains and the turbulence over the Straits of Gibraltar before reaching the desert city of Ouarzazate.
The team is aiming for a round-the-world flight in 2014.