QUIRKY WORLD ... Our daily look at some of the world’s stranger stories
A South Korean city has begun testing an “electrified road” that allows electric public buses to recharge their batteries from buried cables as they travel.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which developed the system, said it would be tested over the next four months on a 24km route in the southern city of Gumi.
Pick-up equipment underneath the bus, or online electric vehicle (OLEV), sucks up power through non-contact magnetic charging from strips buried under the road surface.
It then distributes the power either to drive the vehicle or for battery storage.
As a result it requires a battery only one fifth the size of conventional electric vehicles.
The system also eliminates the need for overhead wires used to power conventional trams or trolley buses.
However, the technology does not come cheap, with each OLEV costing around 700m won ($630,000).
Britain’s most expensive parking space is for sale at £300,000 (€349,00), nearly twice the price of the average UK home.
The open-air spot is barely big enough to squeeze in a hatchback and is £500 more than a nearby studio flat sold for last week. The parking space in Hyde Park Gardens, London, comes with a 91-year lease and costs more than a Rolls-Royce.
Matthew Abernethy, of estate agency Kay and Co, sold two parking spaces last year for £250,000 each and said a number of people were already interested in the latest bay.
He said: “Parking in this part of prime central London is scarce and there are not enough spaces for all the residents.”
A US judge has apologised after jurors complained because she scolded them for delivering a verdict she believed to be wrong.
Ohio Judge Amy Salerno said she always tries to be courteous, but she acknowledges she failed to contain her surprise in this case when the jurors issued a not guilty verdict in an assault case.
One juror said she cried after the judge berated the group and told them they “got this wrong”.
The jury found 36-year-old Joseph McGee not guilty of assault and disorderly conduct charges.
An elusive burglar who broke into hundreds of homes over nearly two decades by smashing rocks through windows has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
Robert James Neese, of Arizona, is said to be the so-called Rock Burglar who smashed the windows of homes he was breaking into while owners were away, including former vice president Dan Quayle’s home.
Investigators say he stole an estimated $10m (€7.5m) in jewellery, cash, and other items over about 17 years.
One of northern England’s busiest motorways ground to a halt at rush-hour when a herd of cows escaped from their field.
Lanes of the M62 were closed for around an hour after the 10 animals wandered towards traffic near junction 26 westbound.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the hard shoulder was used to let vehicles past but drivers endured long tailbacks.
Plumber Calab Norton who caught a fish known as “Frankenfish” has set a world record.
He hooked the 17lb 6oz northern snakehead in a creek in northern Virginia, US, during a fishing tournament. The “Frankenfish” gets its nickname because of its appearance and adaptability.
The International Game Fish Association confirmed the record catch. It beat a snakehead caught in Japan in 2004 by two ounces.
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