QUIRKY WORLD ... A daily look at some of the world’s stranger stories
The quirky two-seater, named after the animal whose shell it resembles, may never see production but it is part of a trend of developing environmentally friendly vehicles for urban spaces.
The car can travel 100km on a 10-minute charge and has a maximum speed of 60kph.
When it comes time to park, the rear of the vehicle folds over the front, almost halving its body length to just 1.65m.
“They can be parked in every corner of the street and buildings, be it apartments, shopping malls or supermarkets,” said Suh In-soo, a professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, who led development of the car.
Suh did away with rear-view mirrors by adding tiny digital cameras that show the back and sides of the car on a flat screen on the dashboard.
A computer system communicates with the driver’s smartphone and enables self-parking.
The Armadillo-T cannot legally venture on to the road in South Korea because it does not meet certain mandatory criteria, such as withstanding crashes.
Roundworm infection discovered in Richard III
ENGLAND: Richard III suffered from a roundworm infection, according to research out on his skeleton.
The body of the king, who ruled England from 1483-85, was discovered last year by archaeologists at the University of Leicester, and scientists have since been undertaking careful analysis of the remains.
A team of researchers led by Piers Mitchell of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University used a powerful microscope to examine soil samples taken from the skeleton’s pelvis and skull, as well as from the soil surrounding the grave. It revealed multiple roundworm eggs in the soil sample taken from the pelvis, where the intestines would have been situated.
Former judge arrested over lottery scam
JAMAICA: A former judge in Jamaica has been arrested by anti-corruption agents on suspicion of involvement in the Caribbean island’s lucrative lottery scam.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force says that officers searched the woman’s office in northern Jamaica and found several documents called “lead lists” that have personal information about lottery scam victims. They say they also seized an illegal gun.
For years, Jamaican fraudsters have conned mostly elderly Americans out of their retirement savings by saying they have won millions in an international lottery, but that they need to first wire a payment to cover taxes.
Prickly rescue for trapped hedgehog
ENGLAND: A hedgehog has had a lucky escape after getting completely entangled in a badminton net.
The hedgehog was rescued by the RSPCA after being found in a garden in Whatley, near Chard in Somerset, by a member of the public.
The net was so tightly wound around him that it was caught in his spines and in his mouth. It is not known how long he had been entangled, but he had been unable to move or feed for a while, the charity said. Animal collection officer Dudley Clements said: “There was no way this little fella was going anywhere.”
Students feast on Seven tonne meal
USA: The University of Massachusetts celebrated the start of the new academic year with a world record fruit salad weighing more than seven tonnes, mixed in a 4.5m diameter swimming pool.
It included 20 varieties of apples, 19 of melon, peaches, bananas, oranges and berries as well as more exotic fruits including quince, passion fruit, and rambutan.
A Guinness Books of World Records representative certified the record.
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