A French health minister tried to tweet her way out of embarrassing blog advice that homeless people should not go outdoors during the ice-cold snap in Europe. Junior minister Nora Berra was ridiculed on the Internet for writing a blog at the weekend saying toddlers, old people, the sick and homeless were particularly vulnerable in times of extreme cold and should "avoid going outdoors."
Her note sparked a flurry of Twitter messages and media reports that she was suggesting the homeless not leave home.
Berra sought to limit the damage via a tweet that redirected readers to a refreshed blog note where the reference to homeless people no longer existed. "There are some subjects that lend themselves badly to irony," she tweeted on Tuesday.
Hundreds of people, many of them homeless, have been killed in recent days as bitterly cold weather sweeps Europe, with temperatures dropping to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in parts of France.
Many French cities are opening extra night-time shelter for homeless people.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Frozen sauerkraut causes German motorway chaos
Piles of sauerkraut tumbled out of a truck on a busy German motorway and quickly froze to the autobahn surface, causing a massive traffic jam near Frankfurt during Tuesday's morning rush hour, police said.
A truck carrying hundreds of packages of the famous German pickled cabbage delicacy crashed into another vehicle before dawn near the western town of Friedberg near Frankfurt and scattered its contents across the motorway.
With temperatures far below zero for the last week, the sauerkraut froze almost instantly and created impassable obstacles, causing traffic to back up for 10 km. The motorway was completely shut down for four hours while authorities struggled to scrape the frozen sauerkraut away.
A truck carrying hundreds of packages of the famous German pickled cabbage delicacy crashed into another vehicle before dawn near the western town of Friedberg near Frankfurt and scattered its contents across the motorway.
With temperatures far below zero for the last week, the sauerkraut froze almost instantly and created impassable obstacles, causing traffic to back up for 10 km. The motorway was completely shut down for four hours while authorities struggled to scrape the frozen sauerkraut away.
Mum tells Westwood to say sorry for swearing
Lee Westwood was forced to apologize after his mum caught him swearing on live television at last week's Qatar Masters, the world number three said on Tuesday. The incident occurred during the 38-year-old Briton's closing 69 Sunday, a round that left him in a tie for 12th place behind tournament winner Paul Lawrie who finished on 15-under-par.
"My mum was the first person on the phone and she said you might want to apologize," Westwood told reporters ahead of this week's Dubai Desert Classic.
"I didn't think that down at four-under-par I would be on TV. It's amazing how sensitive these microphones are."
After the conversation with his mum, Westwood issued an immediate apology on his Twitter account.
"Sorry about swearing on the 16th tee. Came off like a rocket and thought it was going further! Wash my mouth out! Perils of live tv!," he wrote.
Westwood, who also finished in a tie for 17th at the Abu Dhabi Championship two weeks ago, said he had mixed feelings about his early-season form.
"If I was making an appraisal of the first couple of weeks, I've hit it a lot better than I normally do," he explained.
"My putts are quite nice, I'm starting to roll a few longer ones in, but it's just been early-season sloppiness really, making too many bogeys and not making a birdie when I should.
"My wedge shots also haven't been quite as sharp as they ought to have been."
Westwood said he would need to be accurate off the tee at the Dubai Desert Classic starting Thursday.
"Normally they grow the rough up a little bit here," he said. "They've also got the greens firm so it puts a bit of a demand on hitting the fairways."
"My mum was the first person on the phone and she said you might want to apologize," Westwood told reporters ahead of this week's Dubai Desert Classic.
"I didn't think that down at four-under-par I would be on TV. It's amazing how sensitive these microphones are."
After the conversation with his mum, Westwood issued an immediate apology on his Twitter account.
"Sorry about swearing on the 16th tee. Came off like a rocket and thought it was going further! Wash my mouth out! Perils of live tv!," he wrote.
Westwood, who also finished in a tie for 17th at the Abu Dhabi Championship two weeks ago, said he had mixed feelings about his early-season form.
"If I was making an appraisal of the first couple of weeks, I've hit it a lot better than I normally do," he explained.
"My putts are quite nice, I'm starting to roll a few longer ones in, but it's just been early-season sloppiness really, making too many bogeys and not making a birdie when I should.
"My wedge shots also haven't been quite as sharp as they ought to have been."
Westwood said he would need to be accurate off the tee at the Dubai Desert Classic starting Thursday.
"Normally they grow the rough up a little bit here," he said. "They've also got the greens firm so it puts a bit of a demand on hitting the fairways."
German police use Facebook pictures to nab crooks
Police in the German state of Lower-Saxony will soon use their networks of Facebook "friends" to find missing persons and hunt out suspected criminals, according to the state's interior minister. The decision to use social media in manhunts follows the completion of a pilot scheme in the northern city of Hanover last year which drew sharp criticism from data protection groups.
The scheme helped police clear up six criminal investigations and two missing persons cases after identikits of suspects and stills from Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage were circulated on the social networking site Facebook.
Two cases were resolved just hours after the information was uploaded to the site.
"Our successes so far clearly show that the police must not shut themselves off from this medium," state interior minister of Lower-Saxony, Uwe Schuenemann, said in a statement.
"The police department in Lower-Saxony can adapt to new trends," he said. "With a fan page the police is showing itself to be modern and approachable."
Data protection groups heavily criticized the publication of suspects' pictures on Facebook during the pilot last year, arguing that personal data directed through Facebook could end up on an American internet server, outside the influence of EU data protection laws.
The new system, which will be introduced in the near future, will direct Facebook users to a police server via an internet link, said Schuenemann.
But the state commissioner for data protection, Joachim Wahlbrink, said this was not enough and the decision would lead to the circulation of the personal information on the internet which can never be completely deleted.
"Once this data has been saved, those involved will always be pilloried," his spokesman, Michael Knaps, said.
The scheme helped police clear up six criminal investigations and two missing persons cases after identikits of suspects and stills from Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage were circulated on the social networking site Facebook.
Two cases were resolved just hours after the information was uploaded to the site.
"Our successes so far clearly show that the police must not shut themselves off from this medium," state interior minister of Lower-Saxony, Uwe Schuenemann, said in a statement.
"The police department in Lower-Saxony can adapt to new trends," he said. "With a fan page the police is showing itself to be modern and approachable."
Data protection groups heavily criticized the publication of suspects' pictures on Facebook during the pilot last year, arguing that personal data directed through Facebook could end up on an American internet server, outside the influence of EU data protection laws.
The new system, which will be introduced in the near future, will direct Facebook users to a police server via an internet link, said Schuenemann.
But the state commissioner for data protection, Joachim Wahlbrink, said this was not enough and the decision would lead to the circulation of the personal information on the internet which can never be completely deleted.
"Once this data has been saved, those involved will always be pilloried," his spokesman, Michael Knaps, said.
South African man escapes zombies but not police
South African police have arrested a suspected fraudster for impersonating the award-winning traditional singer Khulekani Kwakhe "Mgqumeni" Khumalo, who died in 2009. The unnamed man, who appeared in court in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province on Tuesday, had said he had not died but was kidnapped by a witchdoctor who cast a spell on him and imprisoned him in a cave with zombies, local media reported.
Thousands of people in Khumalo's rural eastern home village of Esiggumeni, turned out to see the man at the weekend. Riot police with truncheons and water cannons were deployed to keep the crowd under control.
"I have always been alive," he was quoted as telling the crowd by the Independent Online news site. "I have lost a lot of weight but it is me."
Police said the suspect's fingerprints do not match those of the famed singer. The man also does not have the same scars on his face as Khumalo had.
"Detectives conducting the enquiry were convinced that the matter required criminal investigation," police said in a statement.
Thousands of people in Khumalo's rural eastern home village of Esiggumeni, turned out to see the man at the weekend. Riot police with truncheons and water cannons were deployed to keep the crowd under control.
"I have always been alive," he was quoted as telling the crowd by the Independent Online news site. "I have lost a lot of weight but it is me."
Police said the suspect's fingerprints do not match those of the famed singer. The man also does not have the same scars on his face as Khumalo had.
"Detectives conducting the enquiry were convinced that the matter required criminal investigation," police said in a statement.
Anfield cat becomes Internet hit
A cat that invaded the famous Anfield turf for three minutes during Liverpool's 0-0 Premier League draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Monday has become an internet celebrity.
Several Twitter sites claiming to be the real deal sprung up within hours of the cat's Lionel Messi-like slalom across the pitch during the first half.
One, @AnfieldCat, had already attracted 17,368 followers early on Tuesday while video footage of the feline's antics were proving popular on the internet.
The latest post on the Twitter site had a gentle dig at Liverpool's city rivals: "Everton rumoured to be interested in signing me, Bill Kenwright too paw to stump up the money."
Liverpool fans, known for their humor, serenaded the tabby cat on the night with the chant "A cat, a cat...a cat, a cat, a cat" to the tune of the Kop battle cry "Attack..Attack"
The cat eventually sauntered off and was last seen in the arms of an Anfield steward.
Several Twitter sites claiming to be the real deal sprung up within hours of the cat's Lionel Messi-like slalom across the pitch during the first half.
One, @AnfieldCat, had already attracted 17,368 followers early on Tuesday while video footage of the feline's antics were proving popular on the internet.
The latest post on the Twitter site had a gentle dig at Liverpool's city rivals: "Everton rumoured to be interested in signing me, Bill Kenwright too paw to stump up the money."
Liverpool fans, known for their humor, serenaded the tabby cat on the night with the chant "A cat, a cat...a cat, a cat, a cat" to the tune of the Kop battle cry "Attack..Attack"
The cat eventually sauntered off and was last seen in the arms of an Anfield steward.
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