Biker gangs fight it out over killer lattes


James Langton
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A gangland turf war described as the worst biker feud in California for a decade is understood to have been prompted by a row over who got to drink lattes at a local Starbucks.

At least three men have been killed and a number of others injured in fighting between the Hells Angels and Vagos biker gangs in the state.

Police say the war was started in an argument over who had the right to the best tables at a Starbucks coffee shop in Santa Cruz.

The city's police chief, Steve Clark, said: "Only in Santa Cruz would you have biker wars over who's going to control pumpkin spice lattes."

World's worst referee

After sending off three players for no obvious reason and repeatedly falling over, a football referee in the Czech Republic was removed from the pitch by the police.

Players for Tynec-nad-Lhota even agreed not to attack after the opposition side, Jestrabi, was reduced to eight men.

The referee, whose shirt was covered in mud from repeated tumbles, was later found to have been celebrating his birthday a little too freely.

Officials decided to annul the game on the grounds of fair play, while the referee faces a year's suspension.

Old nuke put out to pasture

A nuclear bomb that was 600 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima has been dismantled by the United States.

Built at the height of the Cold War, the B53 bomb, designed to destroy Russian underground bunkers, weighed 4,500 kilograms and was the size of a minivan. It was the last of America's megaton weapons to be taken out of service, and would have produced a blast equivalent to nine million tons of TNT.

The bomb was 50 years old and took longer to dismantle than normal because the original engineers had all died and new staff had to work out how it had been constructed.

Goths lighten up

A survey of goths from the 1990s has found that most have settled down in steady jobs with families.

Dr Paul Hodkinson, a sociologist from the University of Surrey in England, revisited a group of goths - a youth cult - he had interviewed as teenagers to see if they had remained in the subculture.

He found that many had remained true to their roots but had toned down their appearance at work because "colourful dyed hair wasn't going to work, and they'd stopped painting their nails black".

Dr Hodkinson said that because many goths came from middle class backgrounds, they had done well academically and that several had started families and were even taking their babies to goth music festivals.

ICC T20 Team of 2021

Jos Buttler, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, David Miller, Tabraiz Shamsi, Josh Hazlewood, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mustafizur Rahman, Shaheen Afridi

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Quick pearls of wisdom

Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”

Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”