Casting wide webs

Spiders in Australia have cast webs over larges areas of flood ravaged lands, Reuters has reported.

Experts say this type of behaviour is normal after floods. The creatures were simply trying to spin sticky webs to anchor themselves from the torrents of water.

Entomology collections manager Graham Milledge at The Australian Museum has told Australian media: “They often do it as a way of dispersing and getting into a new area. In an event like this, they are just trying to escape the floods.”

Sourced from: Reuters.

Text by: Priya Pitamber.

Jack Nicholson he is not, despite the ID

A Brazilian man has been arrested for using false identification with a picture of Hollywood actor Jack Nicholson, to open a bank account, Sky News has reported.

Police have arrested 41 year old Ricardo Sergio Freire de Barros in Recife, and he has been charged with forgery and making use of fake documents. Released images of the false identification show an image of Nicholson, but the signature of a "Joao Pedro dos Santos" coupled with a fingerprint.

"The document with the photo of the actor and other false identification were used to start a fictitious company - and with it also open a bank account," said Erivaldo Guerra, the investigative lead. "That way, he would use the limits on the cheques and the credit cards to steal money."

Sourced from: Sky News.
Text by: Priya Pitamber. 

Street View catches man peeing in garden

A French national is taking Google to court after its Street View Map application showed the man urinating in his front garden, Reuters has reported.

Despite his face being blurred, he believes he has been recognised by locals in his home village in the
Maine-et-Loire area and has since been ridiculed.  A Google camera caught the man relieving himself in November 2010.

The man wants the image to be removed and a payment of 10,000 EURO. "Everyone has the right to a degree of secrecy," his lawyer, Jean-Noel Bouillard, has said to Reuters. "In this particular case, it's more amusing than serious. But if he'd been caught kissing a woman other than his wife, he would have had the same issue."

Sourced from: Reuters.
Text by: Priya Pitamber.

Trapped in snow for two months

A Swedish man has been rescued from a snowed-in car, allegedly having been trapped there since the end of December, Sky news has reported.

A man on a scooter spotted movement in the car on an apparently deserted road and called the police. Policeman Ebbe Nyberg said:  “They were amazed at what they found: A man in his mid-40s huddled inside in a sleeping bag "in really bad shape," starving and barely able to move or speak."

The man was not reported missing and he has survived on eating snow for the past two months. Temperatures have dropped to as low as -30 degrees Celsius.

Sourced from: Sky News.
Text by: Priya Pitamber.

Where was Charlie Chaplin born?

The place of birth of legendary actor, Charlie Chaplin, deepens. Fresh files released from MI5 have confirmed he was not born in London, Sky news has reported.

Back in 1952, US officials asked the British intelligence office to look into the actor's birth after he left the USA, amidst suspicion he was a communist sympathiser.

It is believed Chaplin was born on 16 April 1889 in South London. But MI5 found no record of his birth in the country. "It would seem that Chaplin was either not born in this country or that his name at birth was other than those mentioned." Scotland Yard's Special Branch received a tip that the actor was actually born in France. 

Sourced from: Sky News.
Text by: Priya Pitamber. 

Dolling it up for the royal wedding anniversary

Prince William and Kate Middleton are not the only two people who will celebrate the one year anniversary of their royal wedding. Reuters has reported that their big day will be immortalised in a special doll set.

Mattel Inc, the company that makes Barbie dolls, have said they are creating a doll set of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – wearing outfits the couple wore on their wedding day almost a year ago.

The figurines will retail at $100 a set and they are already taking orders on their Barbie Collector’s website.

Sourced from: Reuters.
Text by: Priya Pitamber.

Indian politicians resign after porn debacle

Three politicians from India have resigned after they were caught watching pornographic material on their cellular phones during a session in parliament, Reuters has reported.

While sitting in a state assembly, news media have broadcast footage of state Minister for Cooperation Laxman Savadi showing a porn clip to Minister for Women and Child Development, C.C. Patil. The phone belonged to state Minister for Ports, Science and Technology Krishna Palemar, who has also quit.

They have denied that they were deliberately looking at porn, but did not want to cause embarrassment to the party. "We are requesting the honourable Speaker of the House to conduct an inquiry and we'll come out with a clean chit," Patil has said.

Sourced from: Reuters.
Text by: Priya Pitamber.