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Odd News Roundup: Submarine Santa brings festive cheer to Tokyo aquarium; Sean Connery's 007 pistol from 'Dr.No' sells for $256,000 and more

Romanian cobbler makes size-75 winter boots to stamp out COVID-19 A Romanian cobbler who made giant shoes to help keep people apart during the first wave of COVID-19 has come up with a new line of huge winter boots to stamp out the second onslaught of the disease.

Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 05-12-2020 02:36 IST | Created: 05-12-2020 02:27 IST
Odd News Roundup: Submarine Santa brings festive cheer to Tokyo aquarium; Sean Connery's 007 pistol from 'Dr.No' sells for $256,000 and more
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Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.

Amid pandemic, orders soar for Brazil robot that feeds pigs playing classical music

Orders for a Brazilian pig-feeding robot, which plays classical music while dispensing meals, soared this year as farmers strove to cut costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Roboagro, the privately-owned company that sells the robot, said in a statement sent to Reuters on Thursday that orders rose by an average of 400% to 60 units per month.

Romanian cobbler makes size-75 winter boots to stamp out COVID-19

A Romanian cobbler who made giant shoes to help keep people apart during the first wave of COVID-19 has come up with a new line of huge winter boots to stamp out the second onslaught of the disease. Grigore Lup said the shoes he launched in May in a European size 75 had sold across the world and helped keep his store afloat in the Transylvanian city of Cluj.

Tokyo zoo unveils first elephant born there in 138 years

Japan's oldest zoo unveiled the first baby elephant to be born there since its founding more than a century ago, and asked the public for help in naming it. The male calf was shown to the public on Tuesday for the first time since his Oct. 31 birth at Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens.

Sean Connery's 007 pistol from 'Dr.No' sells for $256,000

A handgun used by the late Sean Connery in the first James Bond film sold for $256,000 at auction in Beverly Hills on Thursday, topping earlier estimates for the piece of Hollywood history, Julien's Auctions said. The deactivated semi-automatic Walther PP pistol, which along with its smaller model the PPK became one of the film franchise's best-known images, was used by Connery in the movie "Dr. No" in 1962.

Singer Cher says Kaavan will live life as an elephant, not a prisoner

Pakistan's lonely elephant Kaavan began his new life in a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary on Tuesday, the result of years of campaigning for his relocation by U.S. singer Cher. She was there to see him beginning to explore his new home and said: "You know this is amazing for him... his life is going to be the life of an elephant and not the life of a prisoner."

Meals on wheels: Camper van dining beats lockdown rules in Belgium

A Belgian restaurant has found a way to keep orders rolling in during lockdown - by serving its seafood to customers in camper vans. People can rent a vehicle or bring their own, park up outside the "Matthias and Sea" restaurant and wait for masked staff to bring the food over from the kitchens.

Submarine Santa brings festive cheer to Tokyo aquarium

Dressed in a Santa Claus costume, a mask and flippers, a diver waved through a curtain of tropical fish in a Tokyo aquarium at socially distanced spectators watching from behind glass. Continuing a more-than 20-year-old tradition at the Sunshine Aquarium, she held a Christmas wreath aloft as banana fish and a stingray swam by unperturbed, and used a bazooka-shaped feeder to shoot out pellets for them to feast on.

Monolith monotony? Another mystery structure appears and vanishes in California

A 10-foot-tall metallic monolith appeared mysteriously atop a Central California mountain this week, then vanished just as suddenly early on Thursday in what seemed to be a copycat of one that appeared and then vanished in a Utah desert. "I can't say it's aliens, but it was here and now it's gone," said Terrie Banish, deputy city manager of Atascadero, California, a city of about 30,000 off U.S. Highway 101 near the central coast city of San Luis Obispo.


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Odd News Roundup: Submarine Santa brings festive cheer to Tokyo aquarium; Sean Connery's 007 pistol from 'Dr.No' sells for $256,000 and more

Following is a summary of current odd news briefs. Amid pandemic, orders soar for Brazil robot that feeds pigs playing classical musicOrders for a Brazilian pig-feeding robot, which plays classical music while dispensing meals, soared this ...

Science News Roundup: Thai researchers unearth rare whale skeleton; Brazilian soy farmers try 5G technology with Huawei equipment

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People News Roundup: Decathlete Rafer Johnson, 'World's Greatest Athlete', dies at 86; Britain's Prince Harry suggests COVID is rebuke from nature and more

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Slovak court keeps billionaire in custody over graft case

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