Australia has posted snipers to protect endangered penguins in its biggest city, Sydney, after a spate of attacks, officials said yesterday.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service deployed its own marksmen as well as infrared cameras and traps after nine penguins were mauled to death by dogs or foxes in bush land to the city's north.
Parks officials have carried out autopsies on the dead penguins and are also using DNA testing to try to track their killers.
The marksmen are patrolling Sydney's North Head national park at night while officials have also planted traps and laid bait in a bid to stop the killings. (AFP)
Alleged US racist arrested in Israel
When Micky Mayon fled the United States, where he faced firearms charges, the alleged member of an anti-Semitic white supremacist group chose what he might have seen as a perfect hideout - the Jewish state. Mr Mayon, 32, of Steelton, Pennsylvania, was arrested in Tel Aviv by an Israeli law enforcement unit that searches for illegal migrants. He had been on the run for two years.
Mr Mayon fled the US after he was suspected of burning the car of a judge who had ordered that he stand trial on the firearms charges. Israeli authorities were told by Interpol that Mr Mayon belonged to the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group described by the US-based Anti-Defamation League as a racist, anti-Semitic movement.
"Locating and identifying Mayon in a foreign country sends a strong message that you can run, but you cannot hide," said US Marshal Michael R. Regan. Mr Mayon was being sought on two arrest warrants. Charges included illegal possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment and flight to avoid apprehension. (Reuters)
Bolshoi conductor suddenly quits
The music director of Moscow's renowned Bolshoi Theatre resigned suddenly on Monday, throwing the future of the institution's grand $1 billion rebuild into chaos. Alexander Vedernikov, who had struggled for eight years to raise standards and inject new life into Russia's best-known international music theatre, announced his decision on the opening day of the Bolshoi's summer tour of Italy.
"The theatre is putting bureaucratic interests before artistic ones," he said by telephone from La Scala, Milan. "But the interests of art matter far more than the interests of bureaucracy."
Behind the drama of Mro Vedernikov's sudden exit, music experts say, lies a bitterly-fought battle over the future of the Bolshoi. The theatre's doors closed in 2005 for a grand renovation. Intended to take just three years, the ambitious rebuild has so far taken four. Nobody expects work to finish before 2011 at the earliest, possibly later.
For now, Mro Vedernikov plans to complete the La Scala tour and then take a guest conductor assignment with an orchestra in Denmark and perhaps also in Norway. The Bolshoi's future is less clear. (Reuters)
Sunshine insurance offered in France
Sun-seekers whose holidays are spoiled by bad weather could be reimbursed after French travel agencies launched insurance cover for unwanted interruptions to the sunshine. The insurance policy, launched by holiday groups Pierre et Vacances and France Loc, will allow holiday-makers to claim back part of the cost of their trip if they suffer at least four days of rain in any one week.
"Aon France allows Pierre & Vacances to propose to its clients automatic reimbursement for part of their stay... if weather conditions don't meet expectations," the holiday group said in a statement. Aon France will use satellite photos obtained by the French weather bureau to calculate how much money subscribers should receive.
Rain-spoilt holidays can now be worth up to €400 and holiday-makers would be informed by telephone text message or e-mail if they are eligible for compensation. They would receive a cheque a few days after returning home. (Reuters)
Wrong turn into croc-filled river
An Australian woman had a lucky escape after making a wrong turn into a crocodile-infested river in the country's remote north, according to police.
The woman mistook a boat ramp for a road crossing the East Alligator River, about 300 kilometres east of Darwin, police said.
Officers who retrieved the vehicle after the accident found it surrounded by deadly saltwater crocodiles.
Police said the woman, from New South Wales state, had to scramble through the water as her four-wheel drive sank into the river near the world heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.
"She managed to get out of the car once she realised she had gone the wrong way and her car was going to sink," a police spokesman said. "She did have to wade through the water but she didn't have to swim."
The mishap prompted Northern Territory police to warn travellers to carefully research their routes when driving in the area. (AFP)
Aggresive fish killed in Swiss lake
Police divers have ended the reign of terror of a huge fish that was attacking swimmers in a Swiss lake.
The zander, which was 70 centimetres long and weighed eight kilos, was harpooned on Sunday after it bit six swimmers over the weekend, fish warden Fabio Croci told local media.
Two swimmers were treated in hospital for bite wounds up to 10 centimetres long after being attacked on Lac Majeur, which borders Italy, he added.
Police divers at first tried to capture the carnivorous fish with a net, but when this failed they pursued the zander with a harpoon and managed to kill it. The meat from the captured fish was served up to tourists at the lake.
"It is quite unusual for zanders to bite humans", Mr Croci said, adding he suspected the fish was suffering from a hormonal imbalance which could be responsible for its aggression. (AFP)