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Bulldog puppy thief –
Police are hunting thieves who stole one of Britain’s rarest and most valuable puppies worth a whopping £16,000 – because it’s purple. The cute eight-week old British bulldog puppy called Lila is so valuable because of her lilac colouring. Officers say it was snatched from his breeder by a man who was pretending to buy the puppy. The black man with short afro hair grabbed the pup when the specialist breeder’s back was turned and ran out of the home – knocking a female relative to the ground. [Daily Mail]

Volkswagen to recall over 580,000 cars in China: government –
Volkswagen AG told China’s quality watchdog that it planned to recall more than 580,000 cars in the country, after the agency launched an investigation in August. Volkswagen AG’s joint venture in China, FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co Ltd, will recall 563,605 New Sagitar models produced between May 2011 and May 2014 due to a problem with the rear axle arm of the cars, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement on its website. Volkswagen is also recalling 17,485 imported Beetles due to the same axle problem. [Reuters]

Parisian vandals destroy 24ft art sculpture that resembled a ‘giant sex toy’ after claims it ‘humiliated’ the city –
Vandals today destroyed an art sculpture in central Paris ‘because it looked like a giant sex toy’. Looming above the city’s Place Vendome, the 24ft tall piece, created by American artist Paul McCarthy, was meant to look like a green inflatable Christmas tree. But the artwork, simple entitled ‘Tree’, raised eyebrows in the French capital because of its uncanny resemblance to a certain type of sex toy. Today it was left as a giant pile of deflated plastic after vandals apparently took a number of sharp objects to it overnight. The incident came after claims that it ‘humiliated’ the French capital. [Daily Mail] See Video of the Day

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US artist Paul McCarthy brings giant inflatable ‘Tree’ to Paris

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• Suspected Ugandan rebels kill more than 20 people near the Democratic Republic of the Congo town of Beni in their second attack in 48 hours. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Cyclone Hudhud
  • The death toll from the Nepalese avalanche caused by the remnants of Cyclone Hudhud reaches 40. (Xinhua)
• Days of heavy rainfall in Nicaragua lead to at least 22 deaths including 9 people killed in the capital Managua by a wall collapse. (BBC)

Environment

• A male of critically endangered northern white rhinoceros died in reservation Ol Pejeta in Kenya. It was one of only two known males of the northern subspecies of white rhinoceros capable of natural mating. The Dvůr Králové Zoo said that he was one of seven northern white rhinos left. (ABC), (Sydney Morning Herald)

Law and crime

• A McKeesport, Pennsylvania fire leaves family with a loss of six lives. (WPXI)

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