FT264

WOMEN CAUSE EARTHQUAKES
In a televised sermon on 16 April, an Iranian cleric has blamed women who wear revealing clothing for earthquakes. Hojatoleslam Kazem Sediqi (or Sedighi), the acting Friday prayer leader in Tehran, explained: “Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes.” Tens of thousands have died in Iranian quakes in the last decade. BBC News, 20 April; Metro, 27 April 2010.

PIRATE’S SKULL STOLEN
The skull of notorious Baltic pirate Klaus Stortebeker, beheaded in 1401, was stolen from a Hamburg museum last January. It disappeared for a few centuries but re-emerged in 1878 during excavations to expand Hamburg harbour.