GROOM, EVENT FIRM SUED AFTER BEING HIT BY DRONE
Two women are suing a groom and the event company that ran his wedding reception after they allege he flew a drone that hit them in the head at the New Hampshire event. Kneena Ellis, of Seabrook, and Kelly Eaton of Peabody, Massachusetts, claim in their December 1 suit that they suffered permanent physical and emotional injury as a result of the incident.
The suit says Barry Billcliff had flown the drone to take pictures at his wedding reception at Searles Castle in Windham. It says the drone collided with the women while they were on the dance floor. The suit says they suffered a concussion.
Billcliff told the Boston Herald he owns the drone, but wasn’t operating it when it crashed. Scott Robb II, vice-president of Searles Castle, said he never gave Billcliff permission to fly the drone.
(AP)
RUSSIA DEClINES JAPAN DOG DIPlOMACY AHEAD OF SUMMIT
Russia appears to have snubbed a Japanese attempt at puppy-love diplomacy by declining a gift of a dog for President Vladimir Putin at a summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Japanese Government had planned to present Putin, widely known to be a dog lover, with a male Akita as a companion to Yume, a female of the same breed that Japan gave him in 2012.
But a Japanese legislator said Russia had turned down the offer. “Unfortunately, we heard from our counterparts, and our hope to present a bridegroom was dashed,” House of Representatives member Koichi Hagiuda said in a blog post, without giving a reason for the rejection.
Abe and Putin met in Japan on December 15-16. They were expected to work towards reviving security talks and joint naval rescue training halted after Russia annexed the Crimea region in 2014. The two sides are also set to sign some business deals. A territorial dispute over a group of islands has bedeviled relations between the two countries since the end of World War II.
Putin is known to be an animal lover who has been photographed riding horses, swimming with dolphins and cuddling a leopard. In addition to Yume, which means “dream” in Japanese, he is the owner of Buffy, a male Bulgarian Shepherd given by Bulgaria’s Prime Minister in 2010.
(Reuters)
WORlD’S OlDEST AlBATROSS WISDOM lAYS EGG AT AGE 66
The world’s oldest breeding albatross has returned to a wildlife refuge in Hawaii and began incubating a newly laid egg. Wisdom, the female albatross believed to be at least 66 years old, surprised and delighted staff at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial by laying a new egg despite her advanced age.
“I find it impressive that not only has Wisdom returned for over six decades as the oldest living, breeding bird in the wild, but also that biologists here on Midway have been keeping records that have allowed us to keep track of her over the years,” said Charlie Pelizza, US Fish and Wildlife Service acting project leader for Midway Atoll Refuge and Memorial.
Staff kept track of Wisdom throughout her six decades of fertility using a red auxiliary band attached to her right leg. She was first banded in 1956 by biologist Chandler Robbins when she had already begun breeding. Biologists estimate Wisdom is older than 60.
Wisdom has raised at least nine chicks to maturity since 2006 and remains at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge incubating her newest egg and awaiting the return of her mate Akeakamai.
“When I made it to lunch, I knew something was up,” Pelizza said of the excitement surrounding Wisdom and her egg. “The staff was abuzz with the news that Wisdom was back and incubating. It’s amazing what a bit of good news can do to brighten the day.”
(UPI)
AUSTRIA’S ‘WORD OF THE YEAR’ IS TRUlY A TONGUE-TWISTER
For all those who don’t speak German — and indeed for those who do — here is Austria’s word of the year, adding to the challenges of reading and speaking the language. It’s “Bundespraesiden tenstichwahlwiederholungsverschiebung,” or “postponement of the repeat of the runoff of the presidential election”.
The tongue-twister was born of the record time it took to elect Austria’s president, and was announced following a poll of 10,000 people carried out by the Research Unit for Austrian German at the University of Graz, in cooperation with the Austria Press Agency.
A first round in April was followed by a May runoff between the two most popular candidates. This was annulled because of irregularities. A new date set for October was then postponed because of faulty absentee ballots to December 4, when the vote was won by Alexander Van der Bellen.
(AP)
FAN FlIES TO NYC TO PROPOSE AT GHOSTBUSTERS FIREHOUSE
A British man flew his girlfriend all the way across the pond to New York City so he could propose to her at the firehouse used in the Ghostbusters franchise. Wearing a hard hat and safety vest, Giles Baugh dropped to one knee at ladder 8 in Tribeca and asked Melissa Ward to marry him.
Ward, who says she’s learned to embrace Baugh’s Ghostbusters fandom, happily agreed. The New York Daily News reports the proposal took several months of planning. A city employee convinced the FDNY to go along with Baugh’s stunt so long as the proper safety precautions were taken.
(AP)