News of the World: What you missed this week internationally
CANADA
It was ready to rock and roll. A beloved rock that stood as a landmark for climbers in British Columbia went missing, and mysteriously resurfaced more than 1,700 miles away in California.
The small granite rock, dubbed the Portable, stood at the base of the Superfly boulder in Squamish for years, and was used by climbers to practice their balance and grips. News then spread on social media that the Portable — now donning glasses and a hat — was at the Iron Man bouldering spot in Bishop, California.
Squamish climber Ethan Salvo, who happened to be in the Golden State, drove there to confirm the rock’s identity.
“The minute I saw the shape, I knew it was it. It just looked like home. It felt like home. It weighed like home,” he told the CBC.
ITALY
To celebrate the upcoming Milan Cortina Olympics, cultural officials in the northern Italian city are allowing visitors access to a Leonardo da Vinci painting hidden in a castle there.
For five weeks only, guests will be permitted to climb Sforza Castle’s 20-foot scaffolding to view conservators working to restore the Renaissance painter’s unfinished mural, which dates back to around 1498. In 1499, Da Vinci had to flee the city, along with the castle’s owner, Duke of Milan Francesco Sforza, when it was seized by France.
JAPAN
They’re knocking their socks off! A pair of $2 striped white tube socks are one of the hottest souvenirs for tourists in Japan.
The sock mania started after the launch of the now popular convenience store tours in Tokyo. One of the tour stops, FamilyMart, began making high quality, basic clothing such as underwear, T-shirts and socks.
Their “line socks” in the brand’s signature electric-blue and green colors, have become so popular, the company has been introducing new colors and even partnering with TV shows like “Stranger Things” and “The Simpsons” to create limited-edition pairs.
MEXICO
There’s snow place like home — to go for the Gold. A mother-son duo will make history at the Milan Cortina Olympics next month.
Seventeen-year-old skier Lasse Gaxiola will join his mom, Sarah Schleper, 46, on the northern Italian slopes, making them the first such mother-son combo in Mexico ever to do so.
Schleper, 46, a Colorado native, who is making her seventh Olympic appearance, is married to Mexican ski coach Federico Gaxiola.
In Milan Cortina, Schleper and her son will join another parent-child duo, Venezuelan lugers Werner Hoeger and his son Christopher, as the only parent-child combos competing for the same country in the same event.
AUSTRALIA
An Australia Day open water event has been cancelled following four shark attacks over a three-day span along the mid-north coast of New South Wales.
The annual Sydney Harbor Splash, hosted in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse, was supposed to be held on Jan. 26, but organizers canceled it the day after a 12-year-old boy was severely injured by a shark near what is known as Shark Beach in Vaucluse.
With Wires
