Python, after killing a pet cat, found hiding under a kid’s bed

A mother in Thailand called for help when she discovered the culprit behind the killing of her cat — a python which was hiding under her son’s bed.

Thanapoom Lekyen, said she found her family’s kitten dead, then she called for help when she discovered the feline’s killer hiding under the bed in her 13-year-old son’s room.

The woman said her son, Nong, had earlier fallen asleep in her room, so he wasn’t in danger from the python.

A video captured inside the home shows responders from Chachoengsao Voluntary Rescue working to capture the python from beneath the bed.

The large snake puts up a struggle, but the rescuers were able to contain it safely inside a bag. One of the men sustained a minor injury to his hand from being bitten by the serpent during the capture.

The rescuers said the snake would be released back into the wild a safe distance away from the home.

Century-old fruitcake found in ‘almost edible’ condition

The New Zealand-based Antarctic Heritage Trust uncovered a rusted iron alloy tin in Cape Adare containing the fruitcake which could be at least 106 years old.

Conservators said the tin was in poor condition, but the paper wrapping was largely intact and the fruitcake nearly looked and smelled edible.

“With just two weeks to go on the conservation of the Cape Adare artefacts, finding such a perfectly preserved fruitcake in amongst the last handful of unidentified and severely corroded tins was quite a surprise,” Lizzie Meek of the trust said in a news release.

The trust said the fruitcake, made by Britain’s Huntley and Palmers, was a favourite treat of Robert Falcon Scott and could date back to the Northern Party of his Terra Nova expedition from 1910 to 1913.

The trust has conserved almost 1,500 artefacts from Cape Adare since May 2016, and are beginning plans to conserve buildings in the area.

‘Fake’ painting turns out original

An art dealer has been given the surprise of his life after finding out a piece of art once thought to be a fake is actually an original worth £2 million.

Philip Mould is an art dealer and writer, always valuing other people’s works of art and commenting on their authenticity. Sometime back, he had bought what he thought might be an original John Constable painting for £10,000.

Unable to prove its authenticity, he sold it on, but then bought it back a few years later, determined once again to validate it. Despite his best efforts, he was still unable to prove it to be an original, and so sold it to businessman Henry Reid, who believed Philip would one day be able to show the world that the piece was not a fake.

But then experts in Los Angeles examined the work’s layers of paint and the work’s provenance. They were also able to trace the painting’s sales through the years, right back to Constable’s son who sold it after the artist’s death in 1837.

An art lover through-and-through, he is just delighted that the painting can finally be recognised as a priceless piece of art.

Published in Dawn, Young World September 16th, 2017