Other Stories - 16th February 2018

A World War Two bomb, expensive traffic jams, mobile finger printing, a royal ban and other stories that caught Thrings' eye this week.

A World War Two bomb temporarily closed London City Airport. The discovery of an unexploded device in the River Thames forced all flights to be cancelled and several residents to be evacuated from their homes. The find also resulted in closures of sections of the DLR. A 214-metre exclusion zone was put in place when the device was discovered at the George V Dock in North Woolwich during planned works at the airport. The Guardian

It’s raining… ice? Well, it was in Kew last week when a street cleaner narrowly avoided being hit by a block of ice that fell from the sky. The moment was caught on CCTV and appears to show a sheet of ice hurtling in to the ground just meters away from the puzzled onlooker. It is thought that the ice had fallen from a plane on the approach to Heathrow Airport. BBC News

Move over, guide dogs. Digby the guide horse is man’s new best friend. Mohammed Salim Patel is visually impaired, but due to a fear of dogs had always thought he would be unable to have a guide animal. The solution to his problem? Digby, an eight-month-old American miniature horse, who is now being trained to help him as a guide dog would. Though his training is expected to take a few years, the two have already started to bond. “He rubbed his neck against my leg and stood next to me, which apparently is a sign.” Sky News

North Korea has invited South Korea’s president for a meeting. Following the news that North Korea’s Winter Olympics team would be joining forces with South Korea in Pyeongchang, Kim Jong-un has extended an invitation to South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in to visit Pyongyang. Any meeting would mark the first summit between Korean leaders in more than a decade. A handwritten invitation was delivered by Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, during a meeting in Seoul, as the Winter Olympics opened. BBC News

Traffic jams are costing UK motorists over £1,000 a year. Following news last year that UK held the dubious honour of being the world’s 10th most congested country, figures have emerged suggesting that we’re facing hefty costs for sitting in queues. According to traffic information supplier Inrix, that amounts to £1,168 a year – a figure that considers both the direct cost of wasted fuel and time as well as indirect consequences such as inflated prices of household goods caused by increased freighting fees that are passed on to consumers. The Telegraph

Peter Rabbit has been accused of being a bully. The new big screen outing of Beatrix Potter’s beloved children’s character has fallen foul of some viewers due to a scene in which Peter Rabbit and his friends pelt an allergic man with blackberries. The charity Allergy UK have expressed concern that the film mocks allergy sufferers and potentially trivialises a life-threatening condition. The filmmakers have since issued an apology, conceding that they regretted not being more sensitive about the issue. The Telegraph

Elon Musk has launched his car in to space. A few weeks after announcing that his company was selling Flamethrowers, the entrepreneur used the maiden launch of his aerospace company SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to propel his much-loved Tesla sports car in to space. Manned by a mannequin called Starman, the first four hours of the car’s journey were livestreamed until the camera’s battery ran out. “It’s kind of silly and fun,” Musk admitted, “but silly and fun things are important.” The Verge

UK Police are experimenting with mobile fingerprinting. Following a three-week trial by West Yorkshire Police, technology is set to be put to use that will enable officers to check the identity of unknown people in just under a minute. The technology will then trawl through 12 million records from national criminal and immigration fingerprint databases. If a match is found, it will return the individual’s name, date of birth and other identifying information. Wired

Building a new house? Don’t hide it behind a garage door. Avoiding getting planning permission is never a good idea, but flouting it by disguising your work as a garage? It’s a novel approach, certainly, but it didn’t quite work out the way that Dr Reeta Herzallah and Hamdi Almasri had planned when they tried to convert their garage in to a living space. Having not sought permission, the couple have since been ordered to restore the garage to its former purpose. Metro

The Queen has banned plastic bottles from Buckingham Palace. As part of a move to cut back on the use of plastics at all royal estates, Buckingham Palace has announced new waste plans in the royal household. The move was inspired by Sir David Attenborough, with whom the Queen worked on a conservation documentary that looks at wildlife within the Commonwealth. It comes amid a wider strategy to tackle plastic waste across Europe, which includes plans to make all plastic packaging across the EU recyclable or reusable by 2030. The Independent

Stat of the week

Last week we looked at the surge in sales and popularity of vegan food. With the popularity of meat alternatives on the rise, it’s little surprise that Quorn has reported a significant boom, with sales growing by 16% globally last year. In the US alone, sales increased by 25%. As a result, the company’s bosses anticipate that it will have become a billion-dollar business by 2027.