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Briefs
LONDON
(Reuters) -Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson has apologised
after accidentally recommending a potentially deadly plant
in organic salads.
The chef and TV
presenter said in a magazine article that the weed henbane,
also known as stinking nightshade, made an excellent addition
to summertime meals. He enthused that there was plenty of
it, it grew locally and was used by the ancient Greeks and
the Arabs for its anesthetic properties.
Er, not quite.
Henbane, or Hyoscyamus
niger, is toxic and can cause hallucinations, convulsions,
vomiting and in extreme cases death. Worrall Thompson, who
was discussing his passion for organic foods, had confused
the plant with another of a similar name.
Henbane, a close
relative of deadly nightshade, was used by Dr Crippen to kill
his wife in 1910, and is thought to have been the main ingredient
in the poison Romeo took in Shakespeare's play "Romeo
and Juliet."
The chef had intended
to refer to fat hen, a weed rich in vitamin C, that is edible,
media reports said. Worrall Thompson was reported in the media
as saying the confusion had been "a bit embarrassing."
"There
have been no reports of any casualties," he added. "Please
do pass on my apologies."
And finally...a
real life Home Alone scenario. A four-year-old girl was left
behind at Israel's Ben Gurion international airport on Sunday
as her mother, father and four siblings rushed to catch a
flight to Paris, police said. (AFP, Jerusalem)
"I
saw a little girl in tears. She was looking for her parents,"
a policewoman told reporters. "Luckily
she was able to give me her name. I grabbed her and ran to
the gates but it was too late," the plane had just taken
off, she said.
According
to police, the girl's parents only realised she was missing
when the pilot of the plane informed them just as the aircraft
was taking off. "It is usual that travellers in a rush
forget their luggage but not a child. This never happens,"
a police official said.
The incident
was a stark reminder of the US box office hit "Home Alone"
in which a little boy was accidentally left alone as his family
rushed to the airport and flew to Paris for a Christmas holiday.
But
unlike the movie, there was a happy ending for the little
girl who was able to join her parents. She was flown to Paris
on the next flight out accompanied by a flight attendant.
The forgetful
parents will be interrogated by the authorities upon their
return home and risk being indicted for negligence, police
said.
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