An elephant never forgets – where the snacks are stored.

A large wild elephant caught shopkeepers off guard at a convenience store in Thailand on Monday, when it lumbered into the shop in search of food.

The hungry mammal can be seen on CCTV footage entering the store and helping itself to snacks.

“I told it, ‘Go away, go on,’ but it didn’t listen. It was like it came on purpose.”

The store, in Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeast of the capital Bangkok, is near the Khao Yai National Park, so elephants are often nearby.

“We usually see it pass by, and watch from inside the house. But it never came into the shop before or hurt anyone,” she said.

The elephant – a 27-year-old male called Plai Biang Lek – is well known in the area.

Khamploi said it stayed in the store for about 10 minutes, picking and eating. While wild elephants usually prefer bananas, bamboo and grasses, Biang Lek went straight for the sweets.

“It walked up to the counter – the candy counter near the freezer. It used its trunk to gently push the freezer out of the way so it could fit inside,” she said.

“It went straight to the snacks, picked through them with its trunk. It ate about 10 bags of sweets – they’re 35 baht ($1) each. It also ate dried bananas and peanut snacks.”

Another elephant remained outside the store, “probably waiting,” Khamploi said.

Park rangers were called and were eventually able to guide the elephant away, after much coaxing and shooing.

“He’s around here often but never hurts anyone. I think he just wanted snacks,” said Khamploi.

Following the unexpected visit, a wildlife protection group stopped by and offered Khamploi 800 baht for the stolen goods.

“They said they were ‘sponsoring the elephant’s snack bill’ – it was kind of funny,” she said.

Dwindling population

Elephants, Thailand’s national animal, have seen their wild population decline in recent decades due to threats from tourism, logging, poaching and human encroachment on their habitats.

Experts estimate the wild elephant population in Thailand has dwindled to 3,000-4,000, from more than 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.

A group of local volunteers in Khao Yai are working to keep the park’s elephants away from residential areas.

The elephant Biang Lek had “raided” several other places before Monday’s incident, Thanongsak said, even injuring the tip of its trunk after breaking a glass cupboard in a local home.

“He is now living in a village, which is unusual for a wild elephant. It is like they don’t want to return to the mountain. It is easier for them to just stay among the houses,” he said.

Human and elephant encounters are common and can turn violent, Thanongsak said. There have been instances of elephants destroying cars.

Khao Yai National Park is home to an estimated 140-200 wild Asian elephants, and Thanongsak said his group is trying to keep the area safe for both elephants and humans.

The German city of Cologne is moving 20,500 people in its largest evacuation since World War II, after officials discovered three massive, unexploded bombs.

The American bombs – two 20-ton weapons and another that weighs 10 tons – were found in a shipyard on Monday, the city said, causing a huge “danger zone” to be sealed off on Wednesday morning.

A hospital, two retirement centers and the city’s second largest train station were among the facilities emptied out. Schools, churches, museums and two of the city’s cultural landmarks – the Musical Dome theater and the Philharmonic Hall – also fell within the evacuation zone.

The discovery of unexploded weapons is a frequent phenomenon in Cologne, which was decimated by Allied bombing during World War II, but no operation of this size has been carried out since the end of the war, the city said.

“Everyone involved hopes that the defusing can be completed by Wednesday,” city authorities said in a statement. “This will only be possible if all those affected leave their homes or workplaces early and stay outside the evacuation area from the outset.”

The city told residents to “stay calm (and) prepare yourselves” for the evacuation, recommending they visit friends or family and avoid workplaces in the sealed-off area.

Officials said they “cannot make any reliable predictions” about how long the operation will take, adding that specialists cannot begin to defuse the bombs until the entire area has been evacuated.

“If you refuse, we will escort you from your home – if necessary by force – along with the police,” the city’s statement said.

Allied nations conducted 262 air raids of Cologne during World War II, killing approximately 20,000 residents and leaving the city in ruins. Nearly all of the buildings in the Old Town were destroyed, as were 91 of the city’s 150 churches.

A massive reconstruction effort took place after the war, with the Old Town rebuilt and major landmarks restored.

But small evacuations still take place on a regular basis when unexploded ordnances are found. Around 10,000 residents had to leave their homes in October when another American bomb was found, and in December, 3,000 people were asked to evacuate.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has shared rare photos of her daughter, Lilibet, to mark the princess’ fourth birthday.

In one black-and-white picture, posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Meghan can be seen cuddling Lilibet, whose face is partially visible behind her mother’s hand and arm.

“Happy birthday to our beautiful girl! Four years ago today she came into our lives – and each day is brighter and better because of it. Thanks to all of those sending love and celebrating her special day,” wrote Meghan in the caption.

A second photo in the post shows Meghan cradling Lilibet, whose face is visible in profile, shortly after her birth.

The princess was born on June 4, 2021, a year after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their roles as senior royals and moved to the United States.

Meghan and husband Prince Harry are known to fiercely guard the privacy of Lilibet and older brother Prince Archie, 6.

The couple did release a Christmas card last year that featured a rare photo of both children, but their backs are to the camera as they run towards their parents. Five other images appeared on the card, all depicting engagements from the year. It marked the first time since 2021 that Harry and Meghan released a Christmas card featuring their children.

In April, Meghan revealed that she had suffered from postpartum preeclampsia, calling the potentially fatal condition “so rare and so scary.”

“The world doesn’t know what’s happening quietly,” Meghan said on the debut episode of her “Confessions of a Female Founder” podcast.

“And in the quiet, you’re still trying to show up for people… mostly for your children, but those things are huge medical scares.”

Most cases of postpartum preeclampsia develop within 48 hours of childbirth, but it can develop four to six weeks postpartum, according to the Mayo Clinic. Postpartum preeclampsia can cause seizures and other serious complications if left untreated.

The distribution of aid from a controversial new US- and Israel-backed organization into Gaza was paused for 24 hours on Wednesday after Palestinians en route to a distribution site came under fire for three straight days, with fatal consequences.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said that its hubs would be closed due to logistical work to better handle the massive number of people arriving in the hope of collecting food, and so the Israeli military could make “preparations on the access routes to the centers.” Distribution at the sites is expected to resume Thursday.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) warned Palestinians, who endured an 11-week blockade on aid into the strip followed by a meager trickle of food and supplies in the past couple of weeks, to stay away from the GHF sites. “Movement tomorrow on the roads leading to the distribution centers is strictly prohibited, as these are considered combat zones,” the military’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for GHF said the organization was “actively engaged” in talks with the Israeli military to improve security beyond the perimeter of the humanitarian zone. GHF asked the IDF to introduce measures to guide foot traffic away from military positions, develop clearer guidance to allow the population to move safely to the aid sites, and to “enhance IDF force training and refine internal IDF procedures to support safety,” the spokesperson said.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli agency coordinating the passage of aid into Gaza, said 157 trucks with food and flour entered the enclave on Tuesday. These truckloads of humanitarian aid have supplied both GHF and the United Nations, which has continued to deliver aid after GHF began operating. But it remains a fraction of the 500-600 trucks that entered Gaza before the war, according to the UN.

GHF got off to a rocky start when its first executive director resigned the day before operations began last Monday, citing concerns over impartiality and urging Israel to allow more aid into the blockaded enclave.

US military veteran Jake Wood quit as GHF’s head after just a matter of weeks at the organization, publicly launched by the United States in early May. The foundation appointed evangelical Christian leader Rev. Johnnie Moore as its new director on Tuesday, who promised to expand the distribution effort in Gaza.

“GHF is demonstrating that it is possible to move vast quantities of food to people who need it most – safely, efficiently, and effectively,” Moore said in a statement Tuesday.

The organization has repeatedly said there has been no violence at their sites but acknowledged on Tuesday that there have been incidents along the approach routes to the centers. “This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site,” GHF said.

Dozens of Palestinians have died after coming under Israeli fire in recent days, Palestinian authorities say. On Tuesday, nearly 30 people were killed, and dozens wounded, according to the Palestinian health officials. The IDF said its forces opened fire multiple times after identifying “several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes.”

A day earlier, three Palestinians were shot dead and dozens wounded as they were on their way to access aid, Palestinian and hospital authorities said. The Israeli military said that its forces fired warning shots approximately a kilometer (about 1,100 yards) from the GHF site.

On Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry, hospital officials and a half-dozen eyewitnesses said the Israeli military was responsible for gunfire that killed 31 people. At the time, the IDF said its forces “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within” the aid site, but an Israeli military source acknowledged that Israeli forces fired toward individuals about a kilometer away, before the aid site opened.

Most established aid organizations and the UN have refused to work with GHF saying it fails to meet core humanitarian principles and citing concerns that its limited distribution points in the south of the strip would further the military goals of Israel to remove Gaza’s population from the north.

The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, was scathing in his assessment of the foundation during a UN Security Council meeting earlier this month.

“It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip. It is a cynical sideshow. A deliberate distraction. A fig leaf for further violence and displacement,” Fletcher said.

But GHF has doubled down on its distribution mechanism. The organization said Tuesday: “We remain focused on one thing: getting food to the people who need it most. And right now, we are the only organization doing that at scale, with consistency and safety.”