Montreal — A Montreal man cleaning out a closet at his sister’s insistence received a shock when he found, in the lining of a jacket, a lottery ticket purchased 10 months earlier. The sisterly advice proved most profitable: The man, named as Gregorio De Santis, on Friday pocketed winnings of Can$1.75 million ($1.35 million). “When he went to have the ticket validated, he thought the number on the display screen was Can$1,750,” Loto-Quebec said in a statement about De Santis’s big day. “When he realized how much he had won, he says his heart almost stopped!” De Santis’s sister had told him it was time to sift through his bulging closet and donate unused old clothing to a charity. That’s when he stumbled upon the lottery ticket, which he had originally purchased in December, 2017. “I would never have looked in that closet without her!” he said, according to Loto-Quebec. De Santis, who has played the lottery since the 1970s, scored a smaller win of Can$4,000 in the early 2000s. He plans to use his new winnings to bolster his retirement account. Being Canadian, he said he might also take his nephew to some hockey games. Perhaps it was the excitement of the moment, but De Santis made no reported mention of any thank-you gift for his clever sister. — AFP

India suspends bus driver for

letting a monkey ‘drive’

Bangalore — An Indian bus driver who let a monkey behind the wheel of his vehicle was suspended Saturday after a video of the incident went viral, sparking outrage and humor. The 36-year-old driver is seen smiling and patting the langur monkey as it sits atop the wheel of the moving bus in footage shot by a passenger. “Driver M Prakash has been taken off duty for allowing the monkey to sit on the steering wheel and handle it,” T.S Latha, a spokesperson for the government’s road transport corporation in southern Karnataka state told AFP. “Passengers’ safety is paramount and the driver cannot risk it by allowing a monkey on the steering.” The incident took place Monday but authorities only learnt of it after the video was shared on social media, Latha added. There were around 30 passengers on the bus at the time and none of them complained. Local media reports say the langur boarded with a passenger and was at the wheel for almost ten minutes. The bus was on its regular trip around Davangere, around 170 miles (270 kilometres) from regional capital Bangalore, when the incident took place. “So sweet. Why suspend. He should have been warned not to repeat this,” tweeted Parag Heda. Another local quipped that the driver was in the wrong profession. “Good that action is taken and he suspended, but clearly he is in wrong job. This man is a sensitive animal lover (see how langur trusts him) and could be an asset in wildlife related jobs,” he said. The state transport authority said an investigation was being conducted. — AFP