nightclub near the Adriatic coastal city of Ancona last year. It was the second deadly incident involving
bands of thieves using pepper spray in Italy, following a 2017 stampede that killed two in Turin at an open-
air screening of the Champions League football final.
Prosecutor Monica Garulli told reporters that the six suspects, who are aged between 19 and 22, were part
of a gang based in the northern city of Modena that hit nightclubs and other venues in northern and central
Italy with the aim of robbing unsuspecting clubgoers.
Survivors said panic spread in the club in Corinaldo, near the Adriatic coastal city of Ancona, after the
pepper spray was unleashed. Prosecutors added that an oversold venue and security lapses also contributed
to the deaths, which are the focus of another investigation.
Hiker scares off cougar ‘with Metallica music’
A woman out hiking in woods says she scared off a cougar by playing Metallica music from her phone to it.
Dee Gallant said the sound “saved the day” when the animal approached her. The 45-year-old was walking
with her dog, Murphy, in Vancouver Island, Canada, when she spotted that they were being “stalked” by a
cougar, CNN reported.
As it approached, Ms Gallant yelled, and the big cat stopped moving forward but did not retreat. She waved
her arms and shouted at the animal but the cougar stood its ground. But after the first few notes of
Metallica, the mountain lion took fright and ran away.
Four dead after Indonesian earthquake
A powerful undersea earthquake that struck off the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java has killed four
people and damaged hundreds of buildings, the nation’s disaster agency said yesterday. Indonesia issued a
tsunami warning within minutes of the 6.8-magnitude quake on Friday night. The warning lasted two hours
and sent people living along the coastline fleeing to higher ground. The strong quake was felt in the capital
Jakarta and people rushed out of high-rise buildings.
Four people died, some of heart attack or fatigue, as people rushed away from the coastline, Agus Wibowo,
spokesperson for the disaster mitigation agency, told a news briefing. Four others were injured and more
than 200 buildings were damaged by the quake, he said.
Man forced to haul fridge up cliff after throwing it over in anti-recycling protest
A man filmed throwing a refrigerator off a cliff while mocking recycling has been forced to haul it back up
for proper disposal. Spain’s Guardia Civil said it had identified the unnamed perpetrator, who is facing
charges over the possible “environmental crime”.
Video released by police shows two men – including the man who threw the fridge – struggling to drag the
appliance up from the bottom of the ravine in the southern province of Almeria. In the original footage,
which was shared widely on social media, the man is seen unloading the fridge from a van and dropping it
over the side of the road. His face is uncovered and the vehicle’s number plate is on display.
Another video shared on social media showed a man throwing a washing machine down a hillside in the
same region. The Guardia Civil said both incidents were under investigation, as well as the man’s employer
- a domestic appliance distribution firm – after bosses failed to prove they were disposing of appliances
using an authorised agent.