Thieves made off with a £1.2 million antique Stradivarius violin when a classical musician went to buy a sandwich.
Min-Jin Kym, 32, was targeted when she sat down to eat at a branch of Pret A Manger outside London’s Euston railway station. The Korean-born violinist suddenly noticed the black case containing the 300-year-old instrument was missing.
Detective Inspector Andy Rose, of British Transport Police (BTP), said a £15,000 reward had been put up by Miss Kym’s insurers.
The stolen instrument was a 1696 Antonio Stradivarius violin, valued at about £1.2 million. A £62,000 Peccatte bow was also in the case. (PA)
Shark attack risk
A fin in the water, a pair of black eyes, a set of razor-sharp teeth – shark attacks are the stuff of nightmares. But the reality is that people are far more likely to be killed by a lightning strike or a bee sting.
Last year there were 61 recorded shark attacks, resulting in just five deaths, according to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) from the Florida Museum of Natural History.
“It’s a rare event. You’re more likely to be killed by a bee sting than a shark attack,” said shark expert Dr Jean-Luc Solandt.
“The reason why shark attacks are so feared is because it’s a horrible way to go. It’s an environment where we feel uncertain, it’s a big predator, and the attacks are sensationalised in the media. (PA)
Terrible loss!
A Russian court ruled yesterday that a businessman who claims to be a descendant of Ivan the Terrible did not have the right to take over palaces in the Kremlin, the seat of the Russian government.
Russia’s arbitration court threw out a claim by Valery Kubarev that he should take control of several palaces and all the towers of the red-brick fortress in central Moscow, used as offices for President Dmitry Medvedev.
“The claimant did not prove that his rights were infringed,” the judge ruled, the Interfax news agency reported.
Mr Kubarev, a rocket scientist who went into banking in the 1990s, claims to be a descendant of the Rurik dynasty, whose members included Ivan the Terrible, and wants the Kremlin to house an assembly of descendants. (AFP)
On wrong track
A teenager walking to school along an Ohio railway line survived with minor injuries after being hit by a train.
Isatu Kanu, 16, said she missed her bus and decided that following the tracks would be the fastest way to get to her school north of Columbus.
She suffered concussion, a neck fracture and needed 38 leg stitches. (PA)
Christmas tunes you don’t want to hear
Bulgarian national television has called on viewers to say which Christmas and New Year songs they don’t want to hear this year, to spare them another season of their least favourite festive tunes.
“Hundreds of Christmas songs exist, but we have been made to listen to the same old ones for decades,” organisers said.
Viewers were called to vote over the next days on which tunes they find more annoying than conducive to festive cheer.
Asked about his song “New Year”, which is played every year, composer and former Bulgarian television director Stefan Dimitrov said “hits are made to be played over and over again”. (AFP)
Santas’ clause
Secret Santas roamed the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina, handing out $100 bills.
The donors, who insist on anonymity, gave the money to anyone who looked like they needed it.
They took thousands of dollars from their own bank accountsto hand out the notes in what has become an annual event. (PA)
Traffic policeman eats bribe
A Russian policeman received a suspended sentence yesterday for extorting a 2,000-ruble ($67) bribe and then trying to conceal his crime by eating the money.
The traffic police captain in the Chelyabinsk region, Alexei Nikolayev, was given a three-year suspended sentence for bribery, said Vladimir Shishkov, spokesman for the region’s investigative committee.
In March, Mr Nikolayev demanded a bribe from a driver after pulling him over for illegal overtaking. The driver agreed to hand over the money later, but tipped off police, who detained the police captain as he picked up the cash.
The policeman then locked himself in his police car and “ate the received money – a 1,000-ruble note and two 500-ruble notes,” Mr Shishkov said. (AFP)