A former rescue dog has been crowned the pet slimming champion of the year after shedding a third of her bodyweight.
Ruby the Jack Russell terrier was morbidly obese after growing to 9.1 kilograms, making her more than 50 per cent overweight. After a six-month diet and fitness regime run by the PDSA charity, she has lost 17.8 centimetres from her waist and weighs in at just over six kilograms.
Ruby’s owner, Angela Martin, from Sunderland, said she took her in after an animal shelter found her roaming the streets and the family began to lavish her with treats. “When Ruby first came to us, we all felt really sorry for her as she’d had such a tough start to life. So to compensate, we used to give her a little treat here and there,” she said. (PA)
Digital fortune lost in landfill site
A frantic IT worker is hunting for a £4 million-plus digital fortune he inadvertently threw out with the rubbish.
James Howells, 28, would be a bitcoin multimillionaire if he could lay his hands on the computer hard drive containing his fortune. But the digital cash is lost in a mountainous landfill site in Newport, South Wales, where bin men took it after it was thrown out by mistake.
Howells, of the city’s Cromwell Street, had gathered a digital wallet containing 7,500 of the worthless virtual currency. But since the vital hard drive was inadvertently binned during a clear-out this summer, bitcoins have radically increased in value.
A single bitcoin recently breached the $1,000 US dollar mark for the first time – almost five times what it was earlier in the month. It means that Mr Howells’ personal digital fortune would stand at around £4.6 million, if he could find it. (PA)
Police chief’s stunning success
The police boss of a small Indiana town who agreed to be shot by a stun gun at fundraising event to buy a new squad car has said he raised about $800 in cash and received a $25,000 pledge from a company.
Knightstown Police Chief Danny Baker said he has been receiving calls from all over the country and expects to collect more money. His goal was to raise $9,000 so the town of about 2,100 people could lease a new squad car. Now he says he might be able to get a second vehicle.
He said being hit with 50,000 volts of low-amp electricity felt like someone hitting him in the back of the head repeatedly. (PA)
Downfall of man in banana fraud
A man accused of staging a fall on a banana skin in a US tube station lift has been charged with fraud.
Washington Metro said 42-year-old Maurice Owens sued the transit agency for 15,000 dollars (£9,000), claiming he injured his left leg and hip in a fall at the Potomac Avenue station in August.
Surveillance video shows Owens dropping a banana skin. He steps on the peel as the lift door opens, and then appears to thrust himself forward and fall to the ground.
The claim against Metro was thrown out, and Owens has been charged with felony second-degree fraud. (PA)