IRELAND.Bookmaker blasted over “Last Supper”. Irish bookmaker Paddy Power was fending off the wrath of Christians in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Ireland on Friday over an advert depicting Jesus and the Apostles gambling at the Last Supper. The billboard posters, on display in the Irish capital, adapt Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the event to show Jesus with a stack of poker chips, Judas with 30 pieces of silver and other apostles clutching hands of cards. “There’s a place for fun and games”, says the caption. Father Micheal MacGreil, Jesuit priest at St Francis Xavier’s Church in central Dublin, branded the advert “grossly inappropriate and vulgar.” “This is an insult to the religious sensitivities of a lot of people and should be withdrawn immediately”, he told Reuters.“To abuse this image, which is central to Christian beliefs, in a vulgar advertising campaign is totally and grossly inappropriate and Paddy Power should apologize to the people.” Paddy Power acknowledged it had taken a “load of flak” over the advert. “We didn’t mean to offend anyone so if anyone takes offence apologies for that”, said a spokesman for the bookmaker, also called Paddy Power. “It’s a tongue-in-cheek situation — people aren’t supposed to take it as seriously as some people seem to be”, Power said. There were no plans to withdraw the posters, he added.

DENMARK. Santa compensated for dead reindeer. Santa Claus will receive $5,000 in compensation from the Danish air force after an F-16 fighter jet frightened one of his reindeers to death. Professional Danish Santa Olavi Niikanoff complained to the air force after a reindeer died with fright when a jet roared over the field where his animals were grazing, air force spokesman Captain Morten Jensen told Reuters. “We acknowledge it was our fault and we have to pay compensation”, Jensen said, adding that the air force regularly paid out sums of money to compensate for animals that die of fright when planes boom overhead.