ITAlY POlICE UNDER FIRE FOR lETTING MOB BOSS GREET FANS
Police in southern Italy are under fire for allowing one of Italy’s most-wanted mob bosses to greet his fans after his arrest and let them kiss his hand. Police arrested Giuseppe Giorgi last Friday in a bunker inside his home in San luca, the base of some of the most notorious clans of the Calabrian Ndrangheta mob.
A video shown on Sky TG24 showed police jumping for joy after the arrest. But another showed them letting an uncuffed Giorgi greet well-wishers outside his home as they escorted him out. One reached out for Giorgi’s hand and kissed it to show respect.
Italian magistrate Federico Cafiero de Raho says police couldn’t have foreseen the gesture and insisted the arrest was a sign of police strength even amid such “tribal rites”.
(AP)
SQUIRRElS STEAl US FlAGS TO BUIlD PATRIOTIC NEST
A Texas veteran’s heartbreak at having several US flags stolen from his front yard turned to laughter when he discovered the culprit — squirrels. Jennifer Northam said her father, an Air Force veteran, was upset to discover several small US flags had been stolen from the memorial in his San Antonio front yard.
“It wasn’t like they had just fallen off,” Northam told KABB-TV. “Both of us were kind of heartbroken. We were just confused because we’re new to the neighbourhood. We didn’t know if somebody did it or what happened.”
Northam said his attitude changed when neighbour Devin Rivera-Duque showed them a video she captured of the furry thieves. The video, which Rivera-Duque posted to YouTube, shows two squirrels taking one of the small flags off its wooden stick and carrying it away. “I saw her with the first flag,” Rivera-Duque said. “I was just freaked out. The second and third flag, I just started recording her.”
“I was just like, ‘Oh my god,’” said Rivera-Duque. “These animals have a mind of their own. like, you never would guess that they would do something like that.”
Northam said her father laughed when he saw the video. “How crazy that it was actually a squirrel that took it,” Northam said. “And they made a nest out of them.” Rivera-Duque said the squirrels used the 10 stolen flags to build a nest in a nearby tree. “It was like relief came over both of us,” Northam said. “Because we finally understood that it wasn’t someone. It was something. I mean, how amazing that they use their resources like that. They find something new, figured it would work and used it.”
(UPI)
MAN ARRESTED AFTER CAllING UP 911 FOR A ‘CONVERSATION’
Police say a Pennsylvania man repeatedly called 911 while intoxicated because he was seeking conversation. Pennsylvania State Police say 51-year-old larry Keiser first called around 10.30 pm last Friday because he wanted to speak with a police officer. He said there was no emergency.
Keiser called five more times, leading police to show up at his home in North Whitehall Township after midnight. The man told officers he drank several beers because he was upset about a family situation. Troopers told Keiser not to call 911 again unless there was an emergency, and he said he wouldn’t call again.
Troopers say he called 911 the minute after officers left. Keiser has been arrested and is facing charges that include intentionally calling 911 for other than emergency purposes.
(AP)
TRUMP’S TWEETED TYPO COVFEFE BECOMING VANITY lICENSE PlATES
US President Donald Trump’s mysterious tweeted typo ‘covfefe’ is coming soon to a license plate near you. The Maine Department of Motor Vehicles confirms someone claimed COVFEFE for a personalised license plate just hours after the Republican president’s now-infamous tweet at 12.06 am Wednesday. local media report it’s also happening in other States, including Nebraska and North Carolina.
The word took social media by storm after the president tweeted about “constant negative press covfefe”. Trump later poked fun at it, saying, “Who can figure out the true meaning of ‘covfefe’ IJIJIJ Enjoy!”
Twitter user Joe Blanchette tweeted a photo suggesting he was the lucky motorist. But he says he balked at the last minute out of fear of “plate regret”.
(AP)
MAN RElEASES BEDBUGS IN MAINE CITY OFFICE
The city manager in Augusta, Maine, says the municipal office building had to be sprayed for bedbugs after a man threw a cup of the pests onto an office counter and about 100 of them scattered off. City Manager William Bridgeo said the man complained to the code enforcement office about bedbugs at his former apartment then left, but returned after he showed the cup of bugs to a manager at his new apartment and was told he couldn’t live there. Bridgeo says the man let the bugs loose in the office where he asked for a form to request assistance and was told he didn’t qualify.
(AP)