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‘Dognapping’ in UK Deters Owners from Walking Pets

A resident wearing a mask walks her dogs in Beijing, China, Feb. 25, 2020. (AP)
A resident wearing a mask walks her dogs in Beijing, China, Feb. 25, 2020. (AP)
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‘Dognapping’ in UK Deters Owners from Walking Pets

A resident wearing a mask walks her dogs in Beijing, China, Feb. 25, 2020. (AP)
A resident wearing a mask walks her dogs in Beijing, China, Feb. 25, 2020. (AP)

Dog owners are more scared of walking their pets than this time last year due to the rise of “dognappers” during lockdown, said a recent survey.

According to DogLost, a UK charity that helps victims of dog theft, dognappings have risen from 172 in 2019 to 465 in 2020, a rise of 170 percent, leading to Nottinghamshire Police appointing a specialist dog theft officer to tackle the issue.

In February, the police warned of the rise in dog thefts by organized criminals, as the demand for puppies continues to rise due to their increase in cost.

But campaigners say the penalties for dog theft do not match the devastating impact it can have on families who have beloved pets taken from them.

The online survey, organized by Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, received 124,729 responses with a large majority (96.9 percent) saying dog theft was a "serious problem" and that thieves should face stiffer sentences.

Dr. Daniel Allen, an Animal Geographer at Keele University, who set up the Pet Theft Reform campaign with the Stolen and Missing Pets Alliance in 2018, said: "The number of survey responses shows the extent to which the public are concerned about dog theft crime. Further research is needed to build the data base and inform the response to dog theft moving forwards."

Bourne from Sussex said: "Police forces across the country need a flag for reports of dog theft on their systems as currently it is extremely difficult to track this crime trend and put in place an appropriate police response."

"Pets are part of people's family and the devastating emotional impact of this crime should no longer be overlooked," she added.

The Home Office has asked to discuss the findings and how it can develop measures that will protect people's pets and boost public confidence, saying it will be exploring whether it is time to consider defining pet theft as a specific crime.

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Diriyah Company Awards Contract for Development of Grand Mosque in Diriyah’s Second Phase

Designed by award-winning firm X Architects, the mosque will accommodate 11,400 worshippers. (SPA)
Designed by award-winning firm X Architects, the mosque will accommodate 11,400 worshippers. (SPA)
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Diriyah Company Awards Contract for Development of Grand Mosque in Diriyah’s Second Phase

Designed by award-winning firm X Architects, the mosque will accommodate 11,400 worshippers. (SPA)
Designed by award-winning firm X Architects, the mosque will accommodate 11,400 worshippers. (SPA)

Diriyah Company said on Wednesday that it has signed an approximately $244 million (SAR917 million) joint venture contract for the development of the Grand Mosque in Diriyah’s second phase with AlMajal AlArabi Group and MAN Enterprise AlSaudia LLC.

Designed by award-winning firm X Architects, the mosque will accommodate 11,400 worshippers, up to 5,240 worshippers indoors and 6,160 outdoors, across a gross floor area of 12,320 square meters, said Diriyah in a statement.

"The Grand Mosque in the second phase of the Diriyah masterplan will become a proud symbol of an urban development that is being built around the historic birthplace of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," it added, saying that its plaza will host community prayers for significant occasions, such as Eid and Ramadan.

The mosque will also serve as a gathering space for community events, including book fairs, cultural activities, and local produce markets on Fridays and weekends. It will include separate male and female prayer halls, ablution areas, a library overlooking Wadi Hanifah, and facility management offices.

The Diriyah’s Grand Mosque will feature a unique architectural style that integrates modern engineering with Najdi-inspired design, featuring distinctive façades, iconic architecture, and an elegant interior design.

In line with all assets across the Diriyah development area, the Grand Mosque in Diriyah’s second phase is designed to achieve LEED Gold and Mostadam Gold green building certification. "This will be helped by its use of a 3D mesh which allows ample natural sunlight to enter the building while reducing heat impact, ensuring comfort within the prayer hall," said the statement.

The mosque will also be fully integrated into Diriyah’s smart city infrastructure, with water supply, irrigation, power consumption, LEED and Mostadam monitoring, Fire and Life Safety (FLS), and security systems all connected to the central Diriyah Operations Center.

Diriyah Company Group CEO Jerry Inzerillo said: "The Grand Mosque in Diriyah’s second phase will be a landmark place of worship through its serene Najdi-inspired design."

The Grand Mosque in the second phase of the Diriyah masterplan will be one of 31 mosques planned for Diriyah, contributing to 74,300 square meters of dedicated religious space.

Developed on the outskirts of Riyadh, Diriyah is one of Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF). "The integrated urban development project aims to build homes for an estimated 100,000 people, create over 180,000 jobs, attract 50 million visits annually by 2030, and contribute nearly $18.6 billion directly to Saudi Arabia’s GDP," said the statement.

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Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi Share Nobel Prize in Chemistry 

(LtoR) Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Olof Ramstroem, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, address a press conference to announce the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 8, 2025. (AFP)
(LtoR) Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Olof Ramstroem, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, address a press conference to announce the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 8, 2025. (AFP)
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Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi Share Nobel Prize in Chemistry 

(LtoR) Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Olof Ramstroem, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, address a press conference to announce the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 8, 2025. (AFP)
(LtoR) Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Olof Ramstroem, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, address a press conference to announce the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 8, 2025. (AFP)

Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi share the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work in the development of metal–organic frameworks.

Hans Ellegren, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the chemistry prize in Stockholm on Wednesday. It was the third prize announced this week.

Robson is affiliated with the University of Melbourne in Australia, Kitagawa with Japan’s Kyoto University and Yaghi with the University of California, Berkeley.

There have been 116 chemistry prizes given to 195 individuals between 1901 and 2024.

The 2024 prize was awarded to David Baker, a biochemist at the University of Washington in Seattle, and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, computer scientists at Google DeepMind, a British-American artificial intelligence research laboratory based in London.

The three were awarded for discovering powerful techniques to decode and even design novel proteins, the building blocks of life. Their work used advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, and holds the potential to transform how new drugs and other materials are made.

The first Nobel of 2025 was announced Monday. The prize in medicine went to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.

Tuesday's physics prize went to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for their research on the weird world of subatomic quantum tunneling that advances the power of everyday digital communications and computing.

This year's Nobel announcements continue with the literature prize Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday and the economics prize next Monday.

The award ceremony will be held Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, who founded the prizes. Nobel was a wealthy Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite. He died in 1896.

Varieties

Bear Injures Two in Japan Supermarket, Man Killed in Separate Attack 

This handout photo taken on October 7, 2025 and released by Gunma Prefectural Police via Jiji Press shows a CCTV camera footage of a bear walking inside a supermarket in Numata, Gunma prefecture. (AFP / Gunma Prefectural Police via Jiji Press)
This handout photo taken on October 7, 2025 and released by Gunma Prefectural Police via Jiji Press shows a CCTV camera footage of a bear walking inside a supermarket in Numata, Gunma prefecture. (AFP / Gunma Prefectural Police via Jiji Press)
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Bear Injures Two in Japan Supermarket, Man Killed in Separate Attack 

This handout photo taken on October 7, 2025 and released by Gunma Prefectural Police via Jiji Press shows a CCTV camera footage of a bear walking inside a supermarket in Numata, Gunma prefecture. (AFP / Gunma Prefectural Police via Jiji Press)
This handout photo taken on October 7, 2025 and released by Gunma Prefectural Police via Jiji Press shows a CCTV camera footage of a bear walking inside a supermarket in Numata, Gunma prefecture. (AFP / Gunma Prefectural Police via Jiji Press)

An agitated bear roamed the aisles of a supermarket in central Japan, injuring two men and frightening shoppers while separately a man was found dead in a suspected mauling, officials and reports said Wednesday.

More and more wild bears have been spotted in Japan in recent years, even in residential areas, due to factors including a declining human population and climate change.

A man was found dead on a mountain Wednesday in northern Iwate region after another suspected bear attack, according to public broadcaster NHK, citing police.

Separately, the 1.4-meter (4.5-foot) adult bear that entered the supermarket Tuesday evening -- in Numata, Gunma, north of Tokyo -- lightly injured a man in his 70s and another in his 60s, regional police and fire officials said.

The store is close to mountainous areas, but has never had bears come near before, Hiroshi Horikawa, a management planning official at the grocery store chain, told AFP.

"It entered from the main entrance and stayed inside for roughly four minutes," he said.

"It almost climbed onto the fish case and damaged glass. In the fruits section, it knocked over a pile of avocados and stamped on them," he added.

The store's manager told local media that around 30 to 40 customers were inside at the time, and that the bear became agitated as it struggled to find the exit.

Between April and September 108 people nationwide suffered injuries caused by bears, including five deaths, according to the environment ministry.

Also on Tuesday, a farmer in Iwate region was scratched and bitten by a bear, accompanied by a cub, just outside his house.

A Spanish tourist on Sunday was attacked by a bear at a bus stop in scenic Shirakawa-go village in central Japan.