Mikhail Gorbachev announced to the world he was alive and well after hackers broke into microblogs run by a news agency late on Wednesday and posted false reports of his death.
“I’m alive and well. I understand that some people are trying to use their sites to catch people’s attention or are fulfilling the orders of some authority or another,” the former Soviet president, 82, said in a statement on newspaper Novaya Gazeta’s website.
He said the hackers had been “hoping in vain”, and used a Russian profanity to describe them.
Gorbachev is disliked by many Russians for what they see as his role in the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was followed by political and economic chaos in the 1990s.
The state-run RIA news agency removed the bogus posts from its Twitter blogs within minutes and said it had launched an internal investigation and requested an investigation by the Federal Security Service. (Reuters)
Parking space costs €350,000
Britain’s most expensive parking space is for sale at £300,000 (€350,000), nearly twice the price of the average UK home.
The open-air spot is barely big enough to squeeze in a hatchback and is £500 more than a nearby studio flat sold last week. The parking space in Hyde Park Gardens, London, comes with a 91-year lease and costs more than a Rolls-Royce. Matthew Abernethy, of estate agency Kay and Co, sold two parking spaces last year for £250,000 each and said there was already a number of people interested in the latest bay.
He said: “Parking in this part of prime central London is scarce and there are not enough spaces for all the residents.” (PA)
Not moo-ving on busy motorway
One of northern England’s busiest motorways ground to a halt at rush-hour when a herd of cows escaped from their field.
Lanes of the M62 were closed for around an hour after the 10 animals wandered towards traffic near junction 26 westbound.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the hard shoulder was used to let vehicles past but drivers endured long tailbacks. (PA)
Elusive burglar gets 20 years
An elusive burglar who broke into hundreds of homes over nearly two decades by smashing rocks through windows has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
Robert James Neese, of Arizona, is said to be the so-called Rock Burglar who smashed the windows of homes he was breaking into while owners were away – including former vice president Dan Quayle’s home.
Investigators say he stole an estimated $10 million dollars (€7.5 million) in jewellery, cash and other items over about 17 years. (PA)
Pregnant cow saved from mud
A pregnant cow was rescued from a slurry pit just minutes before its calf was born. The three-year-old Swedish Red cross Holstein heifer fell into the large two-metre-deep slurry pit at Crawley near Winchester, Hampshire.
The heifer had started calving and was in the process of being moved to a calving pen when, in panic, she jumped a fence and fell in.
Farmers did a good job getting the cow towards the bank of the pit but when Hampshire firefighters arrived she was almost fully submerged up to her neck, desperately trying to stay afloat.
Crews used specialist animal rescue equipment and, with support from a vet, the cow was safely sedated and rescued from the slurry pit, with the hooves of the calf visible. (PA)