Author: Verified News Online

Representative image An 8-year-old boy’s unexpected catch during a fishing trip at a lake near Philadelphia has raised concerns about exotic pets being introduced into local waterways.On Saturday morning, Seamus Coffey, 8, reeled in a 2-lb red-bellied piranha, which he initially thought might be a large bass while he was fishing with his dad at a lake outside the city.”I'm reeling it in, and I think there's a bass,” Seamus said, ABC reported.His father, Michael Coffey, thought it was unlike anything they had caught before. “I was like, 'Slow down, dude, you might lose it. This looks like something we haven't caught before.'”The boy, however, identified the fish from YouTube videos and alerted his father, Michael, to the unusual catch.“I was like, 'Oh, this is a bluegill, I don't know what this is.' And he said, 'It's a piranha!'” Michael recalled.Pic courtesy: Facebook/ Mike Coffey The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission spokesma..

Four Antonello da Messina works stolen in Renaissance painter's hometown Four works attributed to celebrated Sicilian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina have been stolen from a regional museum in Messina, Italian media reported Sunday, in a heist carried out during the country’s Ferragosto holiday.The theft took place Saturday evening at the MuMe regional museum, where the thieves reportedly bypassed alarm and security systems and escaped with four artworks.Among the stolen pieces were three of the five surviving panels of the “San Gregorio Polyptych,” dated to 1473, as well as a double-sided panel depicting the Virgin Mary and the dead Christ in “Pietà.” The latter was removed from an armoured display case, according to Italian news agency LaPresse.Museum director Marisa Mercurio said the theft occurred shortly before 10 pm.“We are devastated by what happened,” Mercurio told ANSA, describing the stolen works as two of Antonello da Messina's most important and best-know..

A silver Montblanc fountain pen owned by Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has sold for S$461,500 (US$360,000), nearly 10 times its highest estimate, after drawing 111 bids at an auction.
Singapore auction house Hotlotz said the sterling silver Montblanc Meisterstuck No 146 fountain pen, engraved with “SM Lee Kuan Yew”, sold on Sunday at its “Interiors & Collectibles – August, Fine Art Focus” online auction.
The pen had a presale valuation of S$30,000 to S$50,000, with bidding…

A raw, handcrafted Chinese animation has become an unlikely box-office sensation despite being widely panned by critics and social media users.
Niu Lai, or The Arrival of the Ox, has been criticised for its “rough” and “broken” style and a plot that many viewers found hard to follow.
But the film has generated some of the loudest online discussion in recent days, despite the competition from two Hollywood blockbusters: Christopher Nolan’s epic version of The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New…

Welcome to the Island Where Egrets Rule A century after wildlife wardens began protecting a small island in Texas, the 35-acre site has become the world’s largest nesting colony for Reddish Egrets. Green Island sits in the Laguna Madre, a coastal lagoon in southern Texas. In 1923, Audubon Texas signed its first sanctuary lease with the Texas General Land Office to protect the island. At the time, coastal birds were under severe pressure from hunting. Their feathers were highly valued by the fashion industry, while people also collected their eggs and hunted the birds for meat. This caused Reddish Egret numbers to fall sharply across the Gulf Coast, leaving the species close to disappearing from Texas. Today, Green Island is the centre of a much larger conservation network. Audubon Texas manages 175 coastal islands, and the Texas Gulf Coast now has the world’s largest concentration of Reddish Egrets. The islands are also home to thousands of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Roseate Spoo..