The return from the US of a precious Roman artefact stolen from an Italy museum is thanks to an Italian policeman who strolled through New York on holiday this year, officials said yesterday.
Walking down Madison Avenue, the officer from Italy’s cultural heritage police noticed the marble torso on sale for $350,000 (€256,000) in a gallery’s display. The policeman took a picture on his mobile phone and asked the gallery owner about its origin. The owner’s reticence made him suspicious and he looked up the statue among stolen artefacts on his return to Italy, finding it had been robbed in 1988 from the archaeological museum in Terracina south of Rome.
Alerted by Italian police, US customs officials seized the work and returned it to Italian authorities yesterday, along with a small bronze statue representing Zeus or Poseidon and valued at €500,000. (AFP)
Deworms ducks with cannabis
A French duck farmer has been given a one-month suspended sentence and fined €500 after feeding cannabis to his birds saying it was an excellent dewormer.
The farmer from Gripperie-Saint-Symphorien on France’s Atlantic coast admitted that he smoked some of the drug himself but said most of it was given to his 150 ducks for medicinal purposes.
“There’s no better worming substance for them, a specialist advised me to do it,” the farmer, Michel Rouyer, said, without being able to identify the specialist in question.
“This is for real, not one (duck) has worms and they’re all in excellent health,” said Mr Rouyer’s lawyer, Jean Piot, in an effort to convince the court.
Police arrested Mr Rouyer after discovering 12 cannabis plants and around five kilos of the drug in a bag during a visit to his home following a theft. (AFP)
‘Extra holiday for royal wedding’
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said there should be an extra public holiday to mark the royal wedding next year of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Mr Cameron told a parliamentary committee that although no date had been announced for the wedding, he would support a national day off to celebrate the occasion.
“If it’s in the middle of the week it would be a very good idea to have a bank holiday and even if it’s the weekend ... I think there would be a great temptation to have a bank holiday, a day of national celebration,” he said.
William, the eldest son of the late princess Diana and heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, and Kate announced on Tuesday that they would marry in London in spring or summer 2011 after an eight-year romance. (AFP)
Aussie pair pack croc into car
Two Australian men didn’t just run when they spotted a large crocodile at a popular swimming hole, they packed it into their car and took it away so it would not pose a danger to other bathers.
The men found the 3.2-metre saltwater predator about 10 kilometres from their remote Aboriginal community of Gunbalanya in the tropical northern region known as Arnhem Land on Wednesday.
“They took it back in the back of a Troopcarrier (four-wheel drive),” a Northern Territory police spokesman said yesterday.
The men left the animal at a relative’s home, where it sat lazily in a pool of water in the front yard overnight – with its jaws and legs securely bound. The reptile was later released into the East Alligator River with the assistance of wildlife officials. (AFP)
Zapping the kidneys
A new technique which lowers blood pressure by zapping the kidneys with a radio beam could “revolutionise” treatment, it has been claimed.
The therapy produced a dramatic improvement in patients who had been unable to control their high blood pressure with several different drugs and scientists believe it could lead to a completely new approach to managing high blood pressure, or hypertension, a significant risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.
Professor Alan Jardine, from the University of Glasgow, said: “This really is an incredibly promising study and the results really are groundbreaking. It’s the most exciting development in this field for many years.” (PA)
EU money for Elton John concert
The EU said it has ordered Italy to repay more than €700,000 in EU money that was used to pay Elton John for a concert in Naples last year.
Italy used €720,000 in EU money – typically used for investment projects in poorer EU countries – for the singer’s performance fee.
The European Commission said that was inappropriate.
National authorities have leeway in using EU funding. But to qualify for EU money, cultural projects must be long-term events such as art exhibits, building cultural centres or restoring old buildings. (AP)