Etc...

Rover, fetch!

In the annals of crime there have been times when suspects make themselves easy to catch. One of these happened earlier this week in southern Sweden. The culprit in a bank robbery had been making his getaway in a car that he'd also stolen when, for reasons not reported, he decided it was time to abandon it and continue on foot. Alas, the spot he chose to ditch the car in the town of Jonsered is next to a center where police dogs are trained - a fact of which he apparently was unaware in his haste. However, officers chasing him spotted the empty car and recognized the setting. Within minutes, some of the 70 dogs in training at the facility were turned loose and the unidentified suspect was soon run to ground. Said a spokesman for the force, "He definitely picked the wrong place."

Earlier this week, Japan's World Expo ended its six-month run in Aichi Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo. Altogether, 22 million people visited the fairgrounds, 4 million more than turned out for the last such expo in Hanover, Germany. Tourists from around the globe - but especially from Japan - came to see pavilions showcasing the technological and environmental innovations from 122 countries and regions. In traditional world's fair fashion, this one sought to peer into the future; many of its exhibits featured robots. Next up: Expo 2008 in Zaragoza, Spain. The most recent world's fairs and expos and the dates of each, as listed by the ExpoMuseum website:
Knoxville, Tenn. 1982
New Orleans 1984
Tsukuba, Japan 1985
Vancouver, British Columbia 1986
Brisbane, Australia 1988
Seville, Spain Genoa, Italy 1992
Taejon, South Korea 1993
Lisbon 1998
Hanover, Germany 2000
Aichi Prefecture, Japan (Nagakute, Toyota City, Seto City) 2005