World in brief: Skyscraper climber draws fans, police
A French skyscraper climber nicknamed “Spiderman” scaled a 42-floor building with his bare hands in Sao Paulo on Wednesday, delighting nearly 2,000 onlookers before being detained by police.
With no safety equipment, Alain Robert crawled down and then back up the facade of the 495-foot Edificio Italia, one of the tallest buildings in South America’s biggest city.
Robert tried to climb the Edificio Italia on Sunday, but police detained him before he was able to begin. On Wednesday, he took an elevator to the roof and “took advantage of a small lapse in security” to make his way outside.
Milan, Italy
Thieves drill in, nab jewels
Masked thieves drilled a tunnel and broke into a jewelry showroom as employees were preparing for a VIP showing, making off with gold, diamonds and rubies in a brazen daylight heist, the jeweler said.
The bags of jewels stolen Sunday from Damiani – maker of the diamond bracelet that graced Oscar winner Tilda Swinton’s wrist – included gold, platinum, diamonds and rubies, though apparently no pearls.
The losses are being inventoried and Damiani is not issuing estimates, but the jeweler’s chief executive dismissed a $7.52 million figure cited by the Italian media.
Sydney, Australia
Biker gang detains would-be robbers
An armed robber picked the wrong target when he raided an Australian bar where a biker gang was holding a meeting. He ended up hog-tied and in a hospital.
The man and an accomplice, wearing ski masks and waving machetes, stormed into a club in a western Sydney suburb shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday and yelled at patrons to lie down as they tried to rob the cash register, police said.
About 50 members of the Southern Cross Cruiser Club had just started a club meeting in another room, and the bikers jumped up to intervene. One robber escaped by leaping over a balcony, while the other tried to flee through a service entrance, the club’s president, who identified himself only as “Jester,” told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“We caught him at the fence and crash-tackled him and hog-tied him to the ground and waited for the police to get there,” Jester said.
Police captured the other suspect nearby.