T’was a long way home

Map

Since he was a child, Li Jingwei did not know his real name. He did not know where he was born, or how old he was - until he found his biological family last month with the help of a long-remembered map. Jingwei was a victim of child trafficking. In 1989, when he was four years old, a bald neighbour lured him away by saying they would go look at cars, which were rare in rural villages. That was the last time he saw his home, Jingwei said. The neighbour took him behind a hill to a road where three bicycles and four other kidnappers were waiting.

He cried, but they put him on a bike and rode away. "I wanted to go home but they didn't allow that," Jingwei said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Two hours later, I knew I wouldn't be going back home and I must have met bad people." He remembers being taken on a train. Eventually, he was sold to a family in another province, Henan. "Because I was too young, only four, and I hadn't gone to school yet, I couldn't remember anything," including the names of his parents and hometown, he said.

Etched in his memory, however, was the landscape of his village in the southwestern city of Zhaotong, Yunnan province in China. He remembered the mountains, bamboo forest, a pond next to his home - all the places he used to play in. After his abduction, Jingwei said he drew maps of his village every day until he was 13, so he wouldn't forget. Before he reached school age, he would draw them on the ground, and after entering school he drew them in notebooks. It became an obsession, he said. More than 30 years after his abduction, a meticulous drawing of his village landscape helped the police locate it and track down his biological mother and siblings. He was inspired to look for his biological family after two reunions made headlines last year.

Look who they found on Google Maps!

Police arrest fugitive Italian after tracing his whereabouts on the online tool's Street View

Gipacchino Gammino was convicted of murder and then escaped from prison 20 years ago before ending up in Spain. He thought he'd escaped the clutches of detectives after nearly two decades on the run-but eagle-eyed cops were able to track him down. Gammino, 60, was living the quiet life in Spain, where he had set up a fruit and vegetable shop under a false name, the Telegraph reports. However, detectives were hot on the trail and managed to confirm his whereabouts using images on Google Maps. A snap of the criminal available on the tool's Street View feature shows him outside a grocery shop in the town of Galapagar north of Madrid. The store is named El Huerto de Manu-Manu's Garden. Since moving to Spain, he changed his name to Manuel.

Is that cat Freddie Mercury?

We've all got a soft spot in our hearts for adorable animals and this little kitten is no exception. Mostaccioli has been capturing hearts on Instagram on her account @izanami.and.mostaccioli, thanks to her unique fur pattern, which has left her with a streak of black fur just above her top lip - giving her an impressive moustache just like the one Freddie Mercury was known for. The stray kitten was found by her owner Natalie, from California, US, alongside her three brothers when she was just one-day-old on August 30, 2020.

Dog finds help after owner's car crash

A German Shepherd named Tinsley, first thought to be a lost dog, successfully led New Hampshire state police to the site of its owner's rollover crash. Both the vehicle's occupants were seriously hurt, but thanks to Tinsley's "dogged efforts" they quickly received medical assistance once officers discovered the truck, which went off the road.

This woman has the world's longest name

An ambitious mother who wanted to set a unique Guinness World Record gave her daughter a 1,019-letter name, which resulted in her getting a two-foot-long birth certificate. Her first name is 1,019 letters long, and her parents added a 36-letter middle name.

Woman forced to isolate with Tinder date

A woman was forced to isolate with a man she'd just met on Tinder after the pair tested positive for COVID-19 when they were together. Despite barely knowing each other, they faced seven days seeing no one, but each other. Sarah documented her time with the man and shared it with her fans on TikTok.

Mom calls 2-yr-old a terrorist in newscast

A former Indiana reporter and overwhelmed mother made a hilarious, and now viral, TikTok newscast detailing her son's apparent ketchup-flinging meltdown at a nearby Olive Garden, labelling the alleged culprit a "two-year-old terrorist." Kayla Sullivan began her on-site stand up outside the boy's bedroom while he was being "detained until nap time is over." "What I can confirm is my son is a two-year-old terrorist who held me hostage at the Olive Garden earlier today," Sullivan told her audience.

Cooking hacks that can prevent risk of cancer

It may not just be what you eat, but how you prepare it, that drives your cancer risk. Some experts argue that grilling or roasting food until it is slightly burnt is dangerous and you should instead aim for a "golden" colour. When food is cooked at a high temperature, a natural by-product called acrylamide is produced. The chemical is more likely to be produced with roasting, grilling, toasting and frying. Scientists agree that acrylamide in food has the potential to cause cancer in humans as well.

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