Home hit by driver eating chili to be razed
LOWELL, Massachusetts: A Massachusetts house struck by a lumber truck whose driver said he passed out after choking on chili will be demolished. Police said Monday that structural engineers and city building inspectors determined that tearing down the entire home is the only safe way to remove the truck, which has been lodged inside the house since Friday. The truck driver claims that he choked on the chili he was eating when his truck hit a bump. The flatbed truck veered off the road and slammed into the home in Lowell, which is about 25 miles northwest of Boston. The driver was hospitalized with minor injuries. A woman in the home was not hurt. The driver has not been charged, but the investigation continues. Police say alcohol and drugs have been ruled out.
Red Cross office in Nepal
‘hires’ stray dog
KATMANDU: The Nepal Red Cross Society has voted to pay a monthly “salary” to a wounded stray dog that has taken on the job of guarding its office. NRCS president Man Bahadur Budathoki said the dog had turned up at the organization’s premises in the east of the country last month and remained there ever since, barking at any stranger who approached. The NRCS working committee voted on Sunday to pay it 1,000 rupees ($14) a month — plus overtime for weekends. “The dog is doing such a great job that we might even get rid of our night guard,” Budathoki said on Monday. “We will use the money to buy it good food and it will have meat at least once a day. It will also be given milk and biscuits, which it seems to really like. We want to inspire other people to treat dogs well.” Budathoki said staff at the Red Cross had taken pity on the dogwhen it arrived wounded on their doorstep. Tens of thousands of stray dogs wander the streets of Nepal’s capital, Katmandu, where most people consider them a pest. Many die in road accidents or from poisoning — an ordeal the Katmandu Animal Treatment Center describes as “horrific,” throwing the dogs into violent seizures that last for up to nine hours before they die.
Bulgaria soccer star’s broken English a YouTube hit
SOFIA: An interview with Bulgarian soccer star Hristo Stoichkov in broken English has gained wild popularity on the Internet among fellow countrymen and inspired a rap singer to post a song about it on video website YouTube. Ivan Ivanov’s song “Tu parts” contains phrases taken from an English language interview the former national team striker gave to a South African journalist. The interview has been posted on YouTube and is gaining rapid popularity in Bulgaria. “Sometimes lyun (instead of lose), sometimes win” or “too much peoples come only for the pass the time” are some of the soccer-great-turned-coach’s expressions bringing smiles to the faces of Bulgarian fans. Stoichkov, now coach of South African club Mamelodi Sundowns, has been a fan favorite at home and is the only Bulgarian ever named European Footballer of the Year (1994). He is also widely considered to be Bulgaria’s most popular export. “I just don’t care,” Stoichkov told Trud daily when asked about his English language skills. “I can speak Spanish and use a translator but I prefer to do it by myself, with or without mistakes.” Ivanov, who studies economics and is known as DJ Vann, said he was keen on getting permission from Stoichkov to commercially release “Tu parts” after loading it on YouTube.
— Compiled from agencies