A round-up of the stranger stories hitting the news this week
Beekeeping donkey puts canine honey-gatherer in shade
YOU wait ages for an animal in a beekeeping suit, and then two come along at once.
In April we were treated to the story of Bazz the labrador, who helps beekeeping owner Josh Kennet in south Australia. The dog is able to sniff out a deadly disease called American foulbrood that has been wiping out beehives in the area, and had a special suit made to prevent him getting stung.
Kennet revealed that the suit was created through trial and error, adding: “I realise that Bazz was able to sniff out the disease, and save thousands of bees - but he didn’t like being around them too much when he was getting stung.”
And in Brazil, Boneco the donkey has attracted the attention of the Association of Honey Producers, after owner Manuel Juraci fitted out the animal with a custom beekeeping suit - to help the Itatira man collect more honey.
The AHP have expressed an interest in working with Juraci to make custom suits for other animals.
FRET not, Nessie-lovers. There may have been a lack of sightings of the reclusive watery beast in over a year, but an unusual sonar image from the murky depths of Loch Ness has given fresh hope that she may put in an appearance soon.
The reading on the underwater scanning equipment appears to show a large object in the deep waters beneath the cruise vessel.
Boat skipper John Askew said: “The Jacobite Queen spends every day sailing up and down the loch with the sonar on and this reading is the most unusual we have seen for quite some time.
“It’s impossible to tell what we’ve picked up here, but along with those satellite images, you can’t help feeling that reports of the Loch Ness Monster’s demise may be premature.”
Americans ‘blow up downtown Copenhagen’
LAST week the Danish government put a scale replica of the country online at Minecraft, inviting players to explore the Scandinavian country and politely requesting that, if they razed anything to the ground, then they rebuilt something nice in its place.
However, gamers - being gamers - discovered that they could use dynamite to blow up parts of the country, including downtown Copenhagen. Which they did, with reckless abandon.
Denmark’s GeoData Agency created the replica, and chief press officer Chris Hammeken told state media outlet DR: “We’ll probably choose to reconstruct Copenhagen and the other cities.”
The firm was reportedly reloading the map, and was looking at adding new restrictions to block attempts by gamers to destroy any more of the land of Carlsberg and Hans Christian Andersen.
In an update, Hammeken confirmed that it was only minor areas that had been ‘levelled’ and that initial reports of damage had been exaggerated, insisting: “Entire cities are not completely levelled to the ground.”
He also said that nearly 20,000 people had explored the map, and that it had been downloaded over 200,000 times.
“We are very happy to see that so many players around the world are creating fancy nice things and have fun,” Hammeken added.
Man’s sound equipment stolen after playing Celine Dion too loudly
WHAT’S the world coming to when a man can’t blast out Celine Dion to his heart’s content?
Gareth Davies, a former window salesman from Kent, had £3000 worth of sound equipment confiscated after a neighbour complained about him playing the Canadian songstress at top volume.
Mr Davies claimed he was being victimised for listening to his guilty pleasures, which also included ‘Boom Shack-A-Lak’ by Apache Indian and ‘You’ve got a friend in me’, the theme song from Toy Story.
An iPod, speakers, PlayStation3 and a 3D television were all taken away by Medway Council, and Mr Davies said: “It felt like it was a witch hunt.”
Mr Davies will be able to apply for the return of his equipment after 28 days.
Netanyahu hits out at selfies
DESPITE promoting Israel as a hub for technology, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed the selfies fad and has hit out at the world for being ‘slaves to your gadgets.’
Netanyahu, who has his own Instagram account, railed against the world’s obsession with taking pictures in an ‘off-camera rant’ posted on YouTube.
“I don’t get this new world,” he begins. “Everybody’s taking pictures. When do they have time to live? They’re taking pictures all the time.”
Don’t know about the rest of you, but we’re eagerly awaiting Hassan Rouhani’s views on Snapchat and Mahmoud Abbas’ views on twerking.