USA   –  Professor Fritz Vollrath keeps his spiders in luxurious accommodation on the roof of Oxford University.

Dozens of plump Golden Orb Weavers cover the ceiling of a converted greenhouse, basking in the tropical humidity and lush foliage, as their intricate webs pluck delicacies from an ever-present swarm of flies. “I don’t understand arachnophobia,” says Vollrath, as he inspects his brood. After 40 years working with spiders, the German-born zoologist has developed a deep appreciation of their near-miraculous powers.  Spiders create webs by spinning liquid protein into silk that is pound-for-pound stronger than steel, yet extremely flexible. The highly efficient process requires little energy, and many spiders recycle by eating and spinning a fresh web each day…[+]

La-Toya Kenisha Smart admitted to a Barbados court on Monday to bringing into the island one pound of marijuana. She is now on remand awaiting her fate on June 20.

Immigration officers searched the luggage of the 25-year-old Guyanese upon her arrival at Grantley Adams International Airport, on a flight from Guyana on Saturday, and found eight packets of the prohibited drug. As though wanting to send a message to visitors of the treatment they would receive when attempting to smuggle drugs into the island, the Barbadian newspapers plastered photos of the young mother lugging a plastic bag of her belongings on her way to and from the Magistrate’s Court B, where she pleaded guilty, after spending the weekend in the lockups…[+]