An Austrian supermarket was evacuated after the store manager reportedly spotted a banana-loving spider capable of causing permanent erections in men.

The Penny shop in Krems an der Donau, 45 miles west of Vienna, remains closed since Tuesday over fears of the four-inch black and red spider.

Emergency services were called and warn the spider, still at large, may have been a highly venomous Brazilian Wandering Spider, known to reach Europe by hiding in bunches of bananas.

The creature is one of the planet’s most venomous spiders, and bites can be fatal after causing hypothermia, blurred vision, convulsions and, in some cases, erections. The spider’s venom is even being studied for use in erectile dysfunction treatments after it was found that a bite from one of the spiders can give male victims a painful four-hour erection.

An exterminator has been called and the banana crates in the store have been sealed, but reports say the shop will likely remain closed until next week.

A spokesman for the Rewe retail group said that ‘comprehensive cleaning and disinfection measures’ are now under way to prepare the store for reopening. 

But authorities added that: ‘Despite an extensive search, no spiders have been found to date.’

The size and colouring of the ‘unidentifiable’ spider led authorities to believe it was a Brazilian Wandering Spider, capable of emitting a deadly neurotoxin.

Some 4,000 people are bitten by the arachnid each year, with 0.5 per cent of bites leading to death.

Much has been done to develop an effective anti-venom, reducing the likelihood of death. 

But just one bite from the spider can also cause severe cramping and tachycardia, or an increased heart rate. 

The Brazilian Wandering spider appears in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most venomous arachnid. 

Its scientific name – Phoneutria – is Greek for ‘murderess’. 

They are known as the wandering spider because they do not build webs, but instead walk the jungle floor at night looking for prey.

In urban areas, they often take refuge in houses and cars, where they are easily disturbed by humans. 

In 2021, taxi driver Joe Stein found one of the spiders among a bunch of bananas purchased from a Sainsbury’s in West Wickham, Bromley.

He opened the bag to find a two-inch ‘dark mass’ hanging from the fruit and was terrified to see it twitch. 

Mr Stein, from Beckenham, Kent, said: ‘I sort of had to refocus my eyes so I could see his big bony, hairy legs. It was a bit shocking!

‘Obviously I was shocked, my girlfriend was a bit shocked, finding out it was a venomous spider if alive.

‘Luckily I think it was dead, but it was enough to make us both jump and feel on edge.

In 2015, a British family were left fearing one of the spiders had disappeared in their house after noticing a suspicious white spider cocoon on a bunch of bananas.

Michaela Egan from Rainham, Essex posted an image on her Facebook page and friends suggested it could be a Brazilian Wandering spider.

The mother-of-two immediately put it in a sealed bag and returned it to the Rainham Tesco where staff offered her a full refund before sending the banana off to be tested.

The full-time mother said that she could have easily handed the banana to her daughter for her packed lunch.

AllSaints enjoys record sales as shoppers splash out on biker jackets and boots

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter

Updated: 16:57 EDT, 7 August 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

A man went on a ‘stabbing rampage’ near a South Korean subway station, killing one and injuring at least 13 people after running down three people with a car, according to South Korean media.

The attack took place near the Seohyeon subway station in Seongnam, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Seoul, an official at the National Police Agency said.

CCTV footage of the incident shows the suspect stalking through the busy department store connected to the station, wearing a dark jacket and brandishing a long blade, before lunging at bystanders.

Unverified images of Thursday’s attack showed the shop floor stained with blood drops and at least one emergency medical helicopter arriving to the scene. 

Other clips showed how some citizens were desperately trying to stop the bleeding of victims lying on the floor following the violent spree. 

Police said Thursday’s assailant was arrested after apparently targeting people at random. 

Media reports described him as a man in his 20s with a delivery job and suffering from some mental health issues. 

Earlier footage showed a man with short dark hair and glasses holding what looked to be a blade stepping onto an escalator. But in security camera footage, the perpetrator appeared to be wearing a hood.  

It is thought the suspect, who was arrested at the scene according to officials, may have procured the hooded top in the department store prior to the attack.

Police said a motive for the stabbings was not immediately clear, and investigators said the suspect made ‘incomprehensible statements’ after he was detained.

At least eight of the stabbing victims are in critical condition, Yonhap reported.

In response to the attack, the National Police Agency said it would hold an online meeting with regional police chiefs to discuss ways to deal with stabbings and other attacks against random targets. 

Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun warned South Koreans to be on guard for such attacks and urged officials to be vigilant and look out for copycat crimes. 

It comes a fortnight after one person was killed and three wounded in another stabbing incident in the South Korean capital on July 21. 

South Korea is typically an extremely safe country, with a murder rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to official statistics. 

By comparison, the United States has 7.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Bundang, an affluent satellite city of Seoul, generally has a reputation for safe streets and residential neighbourhoods but the two stabbings triggered concern online.

‘The attack (near the) Seohyeon station is really terrifying,’ one wrote on Twitter, which is being rebranded as X. 

‘How can we feel safe and comfortable going outside with incidents like this happening?’ 

Supermarket giant Coles has revealed customers are buying less steak to cope with the cost-of-living crisis.

Vittoria Bon, the group’s manager of government and business relations, told a parliamentary hearing certain meats had become a luxury item as customers focused on weekly specials.

‘So customers are more conscious of those and with cost of living, they are trading down into more value products,’ she told the House of Representatives economics committee hearing on Tuesday.

‘So, for example, instead of perhaps buying steak, people will buy mince, which we’ve got dropped and locked at $12 for a kilo, so there is a change in what people are buying as well as when they shop.’

This is less than half the price of T-bone steak, with 1kg selling for $30. 

Ms Bon said Coles data also showed customers were shopping more often, hoping for a special. 

‘I think there’s a move away from the once a week, large grocery shop – there are smaller baskets happening more frequently,’ she said.

‘So people might shop around, daily or every second day rather than one, weekly shop.

‘People do pay attention to when there are specials which are released at different points in time.’

Woolworths chief commercial officer Paul Harker said milk prices were more likely to stay higher, with official data showing retail dairy prices rose by 15.1 per cent in the year to May, well above the already high 5.6 per cent inflation rate.

‘The biggest area we’ve seen with cost increases has been across the dairy category and that’s been a function of the significant lift in farmgate milk prices across the board,’ he said.

Elevated crude oil and grain prices would also feed into meat prices, but these wholesale pressures were moderating.

‘We are starting to see meat prices, in some instances, come down if you think of beef and lamb, less so in pork,’ Mr Harker said. 

Mr Harker said Woolworths operated on a three-month cycle when it came to buying beef cattle livestock to be slaughtered, processed and put on supermarket shelves.

‘We know that meat is a very important staple for our customers,’ he said.

Mr Harker also noted that more suppliers than usual had asked to raise their wholesale prices, which meant consumers would have to wait to see lower prices.

‘It was a fivefold increase in terms of the number of requests, it’s now sitting at two to three times normal levels,’ he said.

‘Although we are starting to see some relief in some of the drivers of inflation, that’s yet to come through the supply chain.

‘Various of our suppliers have contracts that are locked in. 

‘At the moment, it’s very early days.’

High inflation also meant shoppers were now much less likely to only shop at one supermarket, with Coles noting the competition from German chain Aldi, IGA owner Metcash, its main rival Woolworths, warehouse grocer Costco and online American giant Amazon.

‘Given the cost-of-living pressures people are facing, they’re being more selective in terms of where they shop,’ Ms Bon said.

‘They may have just shopped at one supermarket previously and one greengrocer.

‘People now are more conscious about specials offered by all of the retailers – so you’ve got Aldi, you’ve got Coles, you’ve got Metcash, you’ve got Woolworths, you’ve got Costco, you’ve got Amazon.

‘Then you’ve got all of the smaller retailers and markets that offer products to customers – I think customers are shopping more broadly so they can get the best value for their family.’

Coles has an estimated 30 per cent market share with 120,000 employees, compared with Woolworths’ larger 37 per cent share and 198,000 staff.

Westpac’s Red Book report released on Tuesday found a ‘risk aversion’ measure in June had risen to a record high.

A quarter or 27 per cent of the 1,200 consumers surveyed nominated paying down debt as the wisest use of savings.

This was the highest score since the question was first asked in 1997, demonstrating consumers are now more worried than they were during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 as a result of the Reserve Bank’s 12 interest rate rises since May last year.

Just five per cent of consumers favoured real estate compared with eight per cent for shares, with both riskier approaches to investment near historical lows.

The vast majority or 80 per cent of consumers are expecting more rate rises in the coming year, with inflation still well above the Reserve Bank’s two to three per cent target. 

Only 6.8 per cent of consumers are expecting rate cuts that would give them more money to spend.