Residents of Venice in Italy held an ironic protest yesterday against rising prices and tourist traffic, saying their picturesque city had become a Disney-like Veniceland.
“Venice has become an entertainment park for the 20 million tourists that benevolently invade us every year,” Matteo Secchi, a spokesman for the Venessia group behind the protest, said.
The resident population of Venice is only around 59,000.
“All we can do now is hold a party and inaugurate the ‘Veniceland’ theme park. It’s an ironic provocation for the city administration, which appears not to be able to reverse the tendency,” he said.
Protesters wearing theme park costumes conducted a procession along the Grand Canal on gondolas in front of puzzled tourists and then sold tickets for Veniceland at the city’s main train station. (AFP)
Personal services against nuclear extension
German writer Charlotte Roche offered in an interview yesterday to spend the night with President Christian Wulff if he votes against government plans to extend the lifetime of Germany’s nuclear reactors.
“I am offering to sleep with him if he does not sign,” the 32-year-old anti-nuclear activist told the weekly Der Spiegel.
“My husband agrees. Now it is up to the First Lady to give her consent,” she said. “I am tattooed.”
Ms Roche, British-born author of the sexually explicit 2008 bestseller Wetlands, took part in major demonstrations last week against the transport of radioactive waste that underlined unease in Germany over nuclear power.
Mr Wulff has to decide this year if a law prolonging the lifetime of the country’s 17 nuclear reactors by up to 14 years should be enacted without the consent of the Bundesrat, the upper chamber of Parliament that represents the regions. (AFP)
Cash in the attic
Police who found over £1million in cash in an attic have been told by magistrates they can keep the money. Officers made the discovery, which is the largest in the force’s history, at a semi-detached house in the Stechford area of Birmingham, West Midlands, as part of an investigation into drug dealing activity.
An industry-sized cash counting machine was also found in the attic in September, a West Midlands Police spokesman said. (PA)
Male-female equality
Working women are equal to men in a way they’ll wish they weren’t, according to a US study.
Female workers with stressful jobs were more likely than women with less job strain to suffer a heart attack, a stroke or to have clogged arteries, a big US government-funded study has found. Worrying about losing a job can raise heart risks too, researchers found. (PA)
Woman calls police to ‘bomber’ cat
A Russian woman who was a little worse for wear with alcohol called police in the middle of the night to warn that her cat was about to blow up after swallowing explosives.
“A woman aged 45 called the police around 4 a.m. to say that her cat contained explosives,” a statement by St Peterburg police said.
“Officers went to the scene and spoke to the lady, who was in a drunken state.”
Police searched the premises and the surroundings to make sure there were no explosives, the statement said, adding, “The cat is safe and sound.” (AFP)
Zsa Zsa leaves hospital
Zsa Zsa Gabor is back home after being treated at a Los Angeles hospital for a leg infection.
Her husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, said the actress returned to her Bel Air mansion on Saturday, accompanied by two nurses. Ms Gabor, 93, is being treated with intravenous antibiotics and is also taking oral medication for a separate blood infection. Her husband said if the infections did not clear up, she could undergo surgery.
Ms Gabor was admitted to hospital on Friday after she complained about painful swelling in her legs. She has been admitted to hospital several times this year and asked for a priest to read her last rites in August. (AP)
Potty about Quidditch
More than 40 broomstick-riding teams are competing in the Quidditch world cup tournament in New York City. Long a fictional fixture of the Harry Potter novels and movies about teenage wizards, the sport features players who fly on broomsticks. But in real life, the rules have been adapted to a ground game for “muggles” – humans without magical powers. Teams from around the world competed in a Manhattan park with rules similar to the sport created by JK Rowling in her books. (PA)