LocalNet - Offbeat News

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Elephant in the dining room: Startup makes mammoth meatball

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Throw another mammoth on the barbie?

An Australian company on Tuesday lifted the glass cloche on a meatball made of lab-grown cultured meat using the genetic sequence from the long-extinct pachyderm, saying it was meant to fire up public debate about the hi-tech treat.

The launch in an Amsterdam science museum came just days before April 1 so there was an elephant in the room: Is this for real?

“This is not an April Fools joke," said Tim Noakesmith, founder of Australian startup Vow. "This is a real innovation.”

Cultivated... Read More

Report: Queen Elizabeth II asked Germany for pricey horses

BERLIN (AP) — Two horses fit for a queen, please.

That's what Britain's Queen Elizabeth II had asked for as a gift during her state visit to Germany in 1978, weekly Der Spiegel reported Monday.

The expensive present raised eyebrows among German bureaucrats at the time, who noted that the Holsteiner and the gray Elizabeth requested cost more than any other offering made to a visiting head of state since the end of World War II.

Nevertheless, Germany's then-President Walter Scheel approved the gift in the interests of good bilateral relations, Der Spiegel... Read More

Greenland to stay in daylight saving time forever

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Residents of Greenland have switched to daylight saving time and moved their clocks one hour forward this weekend for the very last time.

Unlike most of Europe, Greenlanders will leave their clocks untouched come autumn when daylight saving time ends. While Europe and the U.S. debates whether to stick to the twice-yearly practice, Greenland - a vast Danish semi-independent territory in the Arctic - has resolved to perennially remain only three hours behind Copenhagen and most other European countries instead of four.

Greenland's parliament,... Read More

Book thief in plot that duped famous authors avoids prison

NEW YORK (AP) — It was the stuff of novels: For years, a con artist plagued the publishing industry, impersonating editors and agents to pull off hundreds of literary heists. But the manuscripts obtained from high-profile authors were never resold or leaked, rendering the thefts all the more perplexing.

The Thursday sentencing of Filippo Bernardini in Manhattan federal court brought the saga to an end and, with it, finally some answers. After pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in January, Bernardini was sentenced to time served, avoiding prison on a felony charge that... Read More

Zebra runs loose in Seoul before being taken back to zoo

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A young zebra walked, trotted, and galloped for hours in the busy streets of South Korea’s capital before emergency workers tranquilized the animal and brought it back to a zoo.

The zebra — a male named Sero that was born in the zoo in 2021 — was in stable condition and being examined by veterinarians as of Thursday evening, said Choi Ye-ra, an official at the Children’s Grand Park in Seoul.

She said the zoo was investigating how the zebra managed to escape. She didn’t immediately confirm media reports that the animal partially... Read More