Good day / bad day

Bad day for a German pooch

German police are hunting for pranksters who stole a dog and painted it the colours of the national flag.

The paint had soaked into the eight-year-old Maltese Terrier's fur so much that it was stuck to his skin and he had to be completely shaved.

Simba's owner Theresa Carl blamed football fans for the prank, saying everyone in Germany was going football crazy in the build-up to the World Cup.

Bad day for the press

Jim Carrey may be known as Hollywood's man of a thousand faces, but the comedian let someone else do the masquerading while on holiday in Israel.

Israeli media claim that the actor hired a local lookalike after being spotted crossing the border from Egypt.

"I arrived at the hotel accompanied by bodyguards, registered under an assumed name, and wore the same shirt that Carrey wore in the picture that was published," said the body double, Amir Garfunkel. "My job was to sit in the hotel room."

Good day for sniffer dog

An Army dog has taken on a special role in Iraq trying to sniff out illegal weapons.

Keria, a four-year old springer spaniel, has been working with handler Lance Corporal Yvonne Watson, 30, of Monikie near Dundee, for the past two years.

She is part of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. The pair trained together at the Defence Animal Centre in Melton Mowbray and both served a tour of duty in Afghanistan before going to Iraq.

Good day for Blair

Tony Blair and other international leaders were confronted by a scantily clad woman protester wearing nothing but a bikini and knee-high boots.

The woman, identified as Evangelina Carrozo from Argentina, disrupted the traditional end-of-summit group photograph to mark the finish of the EU-Latin America conference in Vienna.

Mr Blair and other leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac, looked on as she was hurriedly ushered away by a security guard.