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29 March 2024

Best Of Web: No takers for $6,000-a-day job offer

Published
By Staff and Agencies

No takers for $6,000-a-day work in Japan nuke plants

(AP)
 
Authorities at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are wooing workers with cash carrots to work in the radiation-drenched facility, reports 'Asiaone'.

However, the death mission has no takers even for $5,000 a day offer. They are required to act as 'jumpers'- so called because they 'jump' into highly radioactive areas to quickly perform a task before fleeing with minimal exposure, reported Reuters.

"My company offered me 200,000 yen (S$3,000) per day," one subcontractor said.

"Ordinarily I'd consider that a dream job, but my wife was in tears and stopped me, so I declined."

Similarly, Ryuta Fujita, told the 'Tokyo Shimbun' newspaper he was offered $5,000 to go into Reactor 2, but declined. "I hear that guys older than 50 are being hired at high pay," he added.

Last week two workers in Reactor 3 were taken to hospital after their feet were exposed to 170-180 millisieverts (the unit of measurement of the amount of radiation or "dose" received) of radiation.

The average dose for a worker at a nuclear plant is 50 millisieverts over five years.

Robots are usually used for this type of work, but Fukushima's interior is so filled with debris that it's difficult for robots to operate there.

There is a growing concern after one corpse discovered within 4.8km of the damaged plant, located north of Tokyo, was found to contain high levels of radiation.

Rescue workers, police, doctors, and family members have been warned that they risk being exposed to radiation if they collect the bodies, reported UK's 'Daily
Express'.
 
25 firemen, 5 engines out to rescue a cat stranded on roof 

Picture used for illustrative purpose only. (AGENCY)

Fire service department in Leiston, Suffolk, England, were on their toes early this week when they received an emergency call.

Twenty-five firefighters were sent to rescue a cat, perched about 40ft up on a two-storey house, at an estimated cost of £1,500, reported 'Daily Mail'.

The crews – two of which came from 30 miles away - scrambled to comply with national ‘working at height’ regulations to ensure the health and safety of firefighters, but union leaders have branded the response ‘crazy and overkill’.

Suffolk Fire Service sent a turntable ladder from Bury St Edmunds with a two-strong crew, escorted by a support crew from the same station.

They sped off on the 60-mile round trip to Leiston at 9.45am.

Firefighters with specialist training in working at heights were also mobilised from Felixstowe, 30 miles away, and Bungay, 20 miles away.

Ironically the crews were turned back within minutes when a local firefighter from Leiston climbed a ladder and rescued the cat - which ran off unscathed.

The response would have cost taxpayers thousands of pounds.

A spokesman for campaign group The Taxpayers’ Alliance said: "It’s ridiculous that five fire crews were sent out to rescue one cat. It’s almost laughable but wasting resources is bad news for taxpayers and others who might have needed to be rescued, so it’s not funny."

He stressed: "It is crazy and it’s overkill and if we are having to send five teams to an incident like that, what happens if there is a serious incident elsewhere?"

92-yr old walks to record

Gladys Burrill, 92, runs during the Honolulu Marathon (AP)

She's nicknamed the Gladyator - and rightly so. The Pensioner and a part-time Hawaii resident, 92-year-old Gladys Burill powered through a gruelling marathon to become the oldest person to complete the race. The Honolulu Marathon took her nine hours and 53 minutes, reported 'Daily Mail'.

Burill has been recognised by Guinness World Records for her amazing feat and the Hawaii House of Representatives honoured her with a certificate.

'The Gladyator' ran her first marathon aged 86 and regularly walks 45 miles a week. Burrill had been a multi-engine aircraft pilot, mountain climber, desert hiker and horseback rider before she ran her first marathon in 2004.

She trained for the testing 26.2 mile course by walking 2,600 miles.

The previous record was held by Jenny Wood-Allen of Dundee, Scotland, who completed the 2002 London Marathon at 90.

"Just get out there and walk or run," she said, when asked to give advice to those wanting healthy lifestyle. "It's so important to think positive. It's easy to get discouraged and be negative. It makes such a difference in how you feel and your outlook on everything."

Since 2004, Burill has completed five of seven Honolulu Marathons. She dropped out of the race in 2008 just days after the death of her husband of 69 years, and a stomach ailment sidelined her in 2009 halfway through the course.

8 gruesome murders...killer at large

(AGENCIES)

After police found yet another corpse at the same area where they discovered four murdered women in December last year, the hunt for the suspected serial killer has intensified. The latest find takes the toll to eight in four months, reported 'The Sun'.

Four corpses were discovered last week in posh Long Island, New York State. Earlier, four prostitutes were found murdered in the same area in December. The fifth was found
last week and others on Monday.

Cops are also on the lookout for an internet escort girl, who has gone missing since.

She allegedly booked through website Craigslist, used by the first four deceased.

A woman believed to be Shannan approached a man for help in May last year saying she feared for her life but disappeared the moment he called the police. Later another man
passed the house looking for her, so police believe she is still in the same area.

All the victims are believed to be in their 20s.

Taipei man marries son's wife

(AGENCY)

In one of the most wierdest of cases, a woman from China first married a Taiwanese businessman, then married to her deceased husband's brother, but ended up giving birth to a baby from the two men's father.

The incident came to light when 70-year-old Chen from New Taipei City filed a marriage application with a Chinese woman in her 30s, reported 'Asiaone'.

Suspecting illegal action, authorities questioed Chen, when he revealed the details. apparently, his eldest son met the woman when doing business in Sichuan.

But she became a widow after his son was killed in a traffic accident.

After her return to home in Sichuan, the husband's unwedded younger brother showed interest in her and married her.

However, the brother became suspicious that a baby boy was born by his wife only eight months after they tied the knot.

The woman refused to admit to anything even the DNA test demanded by her new husband showed that the boy was not from the second husband.

When he continued badgering her about the baby, his father stepped out to formally inform his son that the baby boy is his "baby brother" simply because it is his own son.

The angry son immediately filed divorce and drove away the Chinese woman and the baby.

But his father decided to continue providing shelter for the woman and his new son, despite strong opposition from his own wife.

The man eventually divorced his wife of more than 30 years to take his daughter-in-law as new wife.
 
Google doodle fuels Android rumours

(AGENCIES)

The ice cream Sundae was honoured with a Google Doodle on Tuesday for its 119th anniversary, prompting speculation that the search giant's code-named 'Ice Cream' operating system may be released next quarter, reported 'The Telegraph'.

The 'Ice Cream' operating system is expected to be a combination of Android 3.0 and Android 2.3/2.4, called Honeycomb and Gingerbread respectively, in what they call a 'cohesive whole'.

It had previously been expected in June.

The dessert, characterised by a syrup-drizzled scoop of vanilla ice cream with a wafer and cherry on top, is thought to have been created in 1892 when New York soda fountain proprietor Chester Platt served the dish to church minister John Scott.

Others believe the Sundae was invented after an ice cream truck collided with a syrup tanker.

The ice cream was subsequently named after the Sabbath and served every Sunday in a variety of flavours.

The dish rose to popularity in America during the Second World War and in 1945 the US Navy commissioned floating ice cream parlours on refrigerated barges selling 'Victory Sundaes' to boost morale.