Don’t paint pets yet

Berlin, May 30 (AP): An animal welfare group has a message for fanatical World Cup followers: Don’t paint your pet.

Germans who want to show their four-legged friends’ support for Juergen Klinsmann’s team should instead buy them jerseys in the national colours of black, red and yellow, European Animal and Nature Protection said. “No one needs to torture his dog by thoughtlessly painting it out of justified enthusiasm,” Norbert Guenster, the head of the German-based organisation, said today. The group issued its warning as anticipation mounts ahead of the tournament, which opens on June 9.

Lucky lottery owner

Bay Shore, New York (AP): A US soldier and his girlfriend found a winning lottery ticket on the ground at a convenience store on Monday and turned it in to police, who were able to find its owner ? a $2,500 winner with no idea her lucky ticket was missing. Sergeant Edward Boniberger and Marnie Hall found the ticket in a plastic case at a store, police said. They tried to find the woman who had signed it, but when they could not, they took it to a police station. Detectives then located Mary Ann Doerrbecker, who had not realised she had dropped the ticket, according to Sergeant Thomas Groneman. “She was shocked,” Groneman said. Doerrbecker met the couple and offered them a reward, which they declined.

Loader’s cash craving

Valletta, Malta (Reuters): A Maltese court has ordered the customs department to return to an aircraft loader $5,000 he found on a plane. The loader found the cash on a plane that arrived in Malta from Tripoli in July 2000. He handed it to customs, but asked for it to be returned when no one claimed it. Customs refused, arguing it was illegal to hold foreign currency under a law existing at the time. A court on Monday decided, however, that the loader had a right to the money.