News OF THE World

ITALY

Archaeologists have unearthed a massive hall where an emperor and knights partied some 2,000 years ago.

The hall, discovered by researchers at the Università di Napoli L’Orientale in Naples, was located in the seaside home of Vedio Pollione, a Roman knight and politician who lived in the 1st century BCE.

Located on a cliff in Posillipo, an elite suburb in the city 150 miles south of Rome, it was known for its parties attended by Augustus, the first Roman Emperor.

NETHERLANDS

A gown intertwined with pieces of silver, likely a wedding dress, was discovered in a chest from a Dutch merchant ship that wrecked on an island off the coast of the Netherlands in 1660.

The virtually intact artifact is on display at a museum there as few articles of clothing from the 17th century remain preserved today.

SINGAPORE

One of the world’s largest airline caterers is beginning to replace the prawns on its menu with chicken, in an effort to cut costs after the aviation industry struggled financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Singapore’s SATS Ltd., which provides third-party services to airlines, said chicken costs less than prawns, a favorite in the country.

INDIA

Twelve cheetahs from South Africa were released into a national park in India.

The animals were let free in quarantine enclosures in Kuno National Park in Sheopur, Madhya.

Last September, eight cheetahs from Namibia were flown into the wildlife sanctuary, making the total cheetah population there 20.

ECUADOR

Cocaine seized in Ecuador is now being used to produce concrete.

The copious amounts of the drug confiscated in the country cannot fit inside the 27 police warehouses that store it before it is destroyed.

A method that pulverizes the cocaine and mixes the powder with cement, sand and water is used to erect concrete platforms.

The process has been given the stamp of approval from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.