Quirky World...Police earn their stripes as man monkeys around

Britain: A pair of off-duty police officers who made an arrest while dressed as a zebra and a monkey have been commended for their bravery.

Tracy Griffin and Terri Cave were on their way to a fancy dress party when they came across a man yelling threatening abuse in a supermarket in Coventry last March.

The pair, dressed in zebra and monkey onesies, wrestled the man to the ground when he left the Co-op store and told staff to ring 999. The man was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of public order offences.

Brian Eustace, 49, was later charged with public order offences, handed a community order, and must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

USA: A New Mexico man faces charges after a couple found him naked and sleeping in their bed.

Investigators say 30-year-old Freddy Shelby of Albuquerque was arrested after the homeowners called police to report their unwanted mystery guest.

Shelby broke into the home through a window and grabbed a soft drink from the refrigerator before falling asleep in the master bedroom. The homeowners found a disrobed Shelby in a deep sleep.

Officers arrived and called to the man, but he slept through it. Shelby woke up only after an officer ripped the blankets off him. He said he thought he was at his girlfriend’s house. He was charged with breaking and entering.

Scotland: Like the chocolate bar that bears its name, the Milky Way galaxy is lighter than it might first appear.

Scientists have discovered that the real Milky Way, the galaxy containing the sun and its family of planets, is lighter than was previously thought. In fact, it has about half the mass of one of its closest neighbours, the Andromeda galaxy, 2.5m light years away.

Scientists believe Andromeda’s extra weight must be in the form of dark matter, an invisible substance thought to bind galaxies together with its gravity. The findings, from a team led by Dr Jorge Penarrubia at the University of Edinburgh, appear in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Britain: UK workers are the most likely in Europe to break office rules and use Facebook during the day.

A survey by technology giant Samsung, which asked more than 4,000 workers about their office’s social media use, found that more than 40% said they were banned from using sites like Facebook and Twitter at work.

However, the same number said they ignored the ban and happily posted status updates from their desk.

Dr Dimitrios Tsivrikos, consumer and business psychologist at University College London, said: “The days when employees would simply follow the rules without questioning them are truly behind us. Trust, clear communication, and meaningful frameworks are far more effective at facilitating constructive behaviour — both at work and at play.”

USA: An Indianapolis man has won two $1m (€748,000) lottery prizes in the past three months.

Hoosier Lottery officials say Robert Hamilton won $1m from a scratch-off ticket he bought last week at an Indianapolis convenience store.

His other big winner came in April in western Indiana’s Jasonville while travelling to a conference.

Hamilton says he used his first prize to pay off debts, buy a home, and invest in his business. He now plans to buy a motorcycle.

The lottery says Hamilton’s tickets are among eight top prizes for its $120m Cash Spectacular Scratch-off game. Lottery officials say the odds of winning a top prize from the game are one in 2.1m.