ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — A stray dog is getting credit for thwarting a prison break in Paraguay.

Officials say three dangerous inmates dug a tunnel about 26 feet (eight metres) from their cell to the street, and were about to break free just before dawn when the dog began to bark and alerted a guard.

Authorities at the Tacumbu prison on the southern edge of the capital dragged the unlucky prisoners before the media on Friday to tell the tale.

“Because of a stray dog, we couldn’t escape,” complained Hilario Villalba. “When I reached the street, sticking my head out, the stupid dog barked and alerted a guard.”

Villalba, who is serving a 30-year double-murder sentence, vowed in his native Guarani language that he’ll keep trying to escape because he said his sentence isn’t fair.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Argentina, a yellow labrador named Tiza alerted border guards to a motorist trying to smuggle US$110,000 in US$100 bills into Uruguay. The driver denied carrying any money, but the dog sniffed out the bills hidden in the glove compartment, another compartment and inside the rear seats, Argentina’s tax collection agency announced Friday.

NYC apartment sells for US$88 million

NEW YORK, USA (AP) — The family of a Russian billionaire has bought a New York City penthouse apartment for US$88 million.

The Wall Street Journal says the property on Central Park West in Manhattan is now the most expensive apartment in New York.

The seller was Sanford I Weill, the former head of Citigroup Inc. It was bought by a trust for the daughter of Dmitry Rybolovlev.

Features of the apartment include a wraparound terrace.

The Journal says the sale generated nearly US$2.5 million in city and state taxes.

The brokers’ commission: about US$3.5 million.

The deal closed last Wednesday.

Weill previously said he plans to donate the proceeds of the sale to charity.

Escaped emu on the lam for 5 weeks

SOUTH HERO, Vermont (AP) — An elusive emu on the lam in Vermont has been amusing residents in communities on Lake Champlain.

The 150-pound flightless bird looks like a small ostrich. It has been spotted wandering here and there in Grand Isle and South Hero since it escaped from a local farm five weeks ago.

It was spotted again last Friday outside the South Hero elementary school, where it walked by a window of the principal’s office. School worker Steve Berard tried to lasso it with an extension cord, but it broke free.

The emu’s owner tells WCAX-TV he bought three emus for his grandchildren but they don’t make great pets.

He’s taken out an ad in a local newspaper saying, “Free emu, if you can capture it.”