A Chinese magician has sparked outrage from animal rights groups with a trick in which he gets goldfish to swim in sync, prompting China’s state broadcaster to cancel an encore performance yesterday.
Fu dazzled audiences two weeks ago with the trick and had planned a repeat performance yesterday on a Lunar New Year holiday show on China Central Television (CCTV).
Animal rights activists cried foul over the stunt, saying Fu had likely fed the fish magnets – or implanted them in the fish – so they could be dragged around their tank from underneath.
They said the trick amounted to animal cruelty.
The trick – which can be seen online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0cAMAy-WL4 (AFP)
Stray screwdriver
Operators of a South Korean nuclear power plant said yesterday that a stray screwdriver was most likely to blame after a reactor had to be shut down for three days. The reactor in Yeonggwang, south of Seoul, stopped working on February 4. It was restarted after engineers carried out repairs to the cooling pump.
“A 30-centimetre-long screwdriver was found in the cooling pump’s motor, and we believe this might have caused the trouble,” he said.
“We have no information as to when the screwdriver was put into the motor,” he said, adding the pump was last overhauled by German engineers in 2002. (AFP)
Playful dog
A driver who was trying to hide his drugs stash as Oregon police pulled over his pick-up truck was uncovered – by his dog.
Sherman County sheriff’s Sgt John Terrel saw a sock stuffed with marijuana and hashish fly out of the truck window. The driver said he was trying to hide the sock, but his pit bull cross grabbed it and wouldn’t let go, enjoying a tug-of-war game.The dog won the tussle and tossed the sock out the window, and the 32-year-old driver was indicted on drug possession charges. (PA)
Funeral card games
A Philippine priest has threatened to deny burial rights in cases where mourners at funerals are caught gambling. Father Valentine Dimoc of the Saint Mary Magdalene Parish has said.
Gambling on cards at funerals is a tradition in the mainly Catholic Philippines, used to help family members pay for the cost of the burial. However, with few opportunities for legitimate gambling due to strict limits on gaming, syndicates have been known to use phoney wakes – complete with a rented corpse – to hold gaming sessions. (AFP)
Venice virtual tour
Internet users can now travel along the canals of Venice from the comfort of their own homes to prepare their trips, with a new website launched by the picturesque city’s local government yesterday.
The website – http://maps.veniceconnected.it – is made up of 360-degree high-definition photographs snapped by a camera mounted on a boat travelling the length and breadth of the northern Italian city’s famous canals.
The virtual tour also offers advice on interesting tourist sites and local shopping and allows visitors to walk city streets, including some of its famous narrow alleyways that are not reachable by car. (AFP)
Out of skull
Ancient Britons may have found the drink going to their heads, scientists said, after uncovering human skulls that were used as drinking cups in some kind of ritual.
The 14,700-year-old artefacts were discovered in Gough’s Cave, Somerset, and have been analysed by experts from London’s Natural History Museum.
The brain cases were fashioned in such a meticulous way that their use as bowls to hold liquid seems the only reasonable explanation, scientists said. (PA)
Cat decapitated
A pet cat was stabbed and decapitated before being dumped in a front garden.
The cat, called Huggles, was adopted from an animal rescue centre in November and was killed in Lindford, Hampshire, on February 9.
Police community service officer John Terry said: “Huggles would have suffered a great deal before death. A local vet who examined the animal had never seen such a level of violence inflicted on an animal.” (PA)