Like a woman scorned

BRMBFM listeners have been hooked by the story of Jane Doe.

Jane began emailing Big Brum Breakfast presenter Caroline Martin in September, after she suspected her husband was having an affair.

It all started when he began to wear aftershave after having refused to for years. She then went on to find another bottle hidden in a drawer - and her suspicions started.

Since then Jane has sent regular emails to Caroline, who has read them out on the Big Brum Breakfast show. Listeners have been gripped and Caroline has published the emails in her blog.

Jane was right, her husband WAS having an affair and the 'other woman' is someone Jane knows.

Now we're bringing you Jane Doe's story in three sensational parts, so you can listen to the whole saga from beginning to end.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned - you better believe it!

You can listen to it now or download it by right-clicking and doing a 'save as'.

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Spiderman arrested again

A French daredevil climber, famed for scaling some of the world's tallest buildings without ropes, made it to the top of a Mexico City skyscraper, only to be arrested by police waiting on the roof.

Office workers in the gleaming 23-story glass and steel skyscraper did double-takes as the long-haired climber hauled himself up past their windows in the upscale Santa Fe business district.

"I was in a meeting and suddenly I see this guy at the window. I thought he was a window cleaner, but he had nothing with him. Then he waved at me and kept on climbing," Carlos Saenz, an executive who works the 12th floor, said.

Alain Robert - dubbed "the French Spiderman" for climbing some 70 structures including the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge - made it to the top in just 30 minutes.

He was immediately arrested.

"I went to many jails all around the world. It's no big deal," Robert told Reuters, adding that he hoped the Mexican police would treat him nicely.

His lawyer says he should get off with a fine.

Robert, 44, tries to dodge the authorities before a climb by arriving unannounced at his building of choice and racing up before he can be stopped.

"I didn't know Mexico ... so I really wanted to climb something here," he said.

Stop spitting !

NEW DELHI - India hopes to shame its citizens out of spitting and littering at tourist sites with an advertising campaign showing schoolchildren looking dismayed and disapproving of the dirty habit.

The walls of countless buildings in India are streaked with dried red spit generated by people chewing paan, a mildly intoxicating preparation wrapped in a leaf and often containing betel nut and tobacco.

The tourism ministry wants to convince people to think of more discreet places to deposit their phlegm, and is spending 50 million rupees ($1.12 million) on a campaign to instill civic pride it says is widely lacking.

"Unfortunately spitting paan is considered an art in India," the ministry's Amitabh Kant told Reuters, adding that it was off-putting to many of the nearly 4 million foreign tourists that visit the country each year.

One of the adverts running in national newspapers shows four children looking distressed at the sight of a paan-splattered monument strewn with litter and covered with graffiti.

"What a shame that people like him have no respect for our heritage," one child says in a speech bubble, pointing an angry finger at a paan-chewing man on the brink of spitting.

The slapstick television and cinema campaign shows an Indian family tossing litter around the Taj Mahal and other famous tourist sites before being admonished by Shah Rukh Khan, a popular Bollywood actor.

Currying a favour

A group of English cricket fans watching their team play in Australia were so desperate for a curry from their favourite chef that they ordered one from Britain, and the restaurant's managers promised to deliver.

Nasir Abdul, manager of the Bombay Nights restaurant in Bath, western England, said it was furthest takeaway order the restaurant had ever received, although it had flown food to Germany for football World Cup fans this year.

"We were shocked when we first got the order and thought someone was having laugh, but we then realised it was genuine," said Abdul on Friday.

"They had eaten at the London branch of our restaurant and enjoyed the chef's food, but when they called them up and were told he was now working in Bath, they called us," he said.

Abdul and his business partner hope to fly to Perth on Monday to deliver the order of lamb tikka masala, lamb dansak, mushroom pilau, tarka dhal, sag aloo and pratha bread at a cost of 1,500 pounds for food that would normally cost about 140 pounds.

The third test match between England and Australia is due to start in Perth on Thursday.

"They said there aren't that many Indian restaurants there," Abdul said.

The food will be chilled and put in cooler boxes inside their suitcases for the 9,000-mile (14,480 km) journey.

He hopes Australian customs will not confiscate the food.

Twenty years of police work down the toilet

Police officers in the small town of Hagfors in western Sweden have finally made it through their massive stock of toilet paper, twenty years after a shock delivery first took over the local station.

"There were times when we weren't sure we'd make it," said station chief Björn Fredlund.

One March day in 1986 a juggernaut came rolling into town, full to the brim with paper products and plastic bags for the local police station. Somebody had messed up the invoice and ticked off the box for pallets instead of packets of toilet paper, paper towels, kitchen paper and plastic rubbish bags.

The police chief could only look on in despair as a seemingly endless supply of products was unloaded from the truck.

"He asked the driver to stop. But the driver said it would cost a lot of money to return the goods and that he would need it in writing. Nothing was signed and the unloading continued," said Fredlund.

Rather than moaning about getting a bum deal, it was all hands to the pump for the next few hours.

"The driver got help from some of our people. It took them from 8 or 9 in the morning until late in the afternoon to unload it all. There was an unbelievable amount of stuff. We filled 12 garages with it all, as well as all other available spaces," said Fredlund.

Just how much was there?

"I don't know how much toilet paper there was but one of my colleagues worked out that there were 550,000 paper towels and 3 million plastic bags," said Fredlund.

There was nothing for it but to get on with the paperwork. As a gesture of neighbourly goodwill, police patrols from other towns in the northern Värmland region would sometimes drop by and take a few rolls back with them from Hagfors.

And this Thursday, 20 years after the original delivery, the final roll of toilet paper finally met its last police posterior.

But was it really a cock-up? Or could it have been a cunning economic plan hatched by the police force of Hagfors?

"Back in 1986 it was the National Police Board that paid. I think it came to 60,000 kronor.

"If it had happened a few years later the local police district would have had to pay," said Fredlund.

And was about the quality of the class of '86? Was the paper still up to the job 20 years later?

"Oh yes, there was nothing wrong with it. It was single sheet mind you, and double would have been nice, but overall it was fine," said Fredlund.

Tapestry of life

1066 and all that was a real labour of love for this dedicated tube worker who spent more than 20 years recreating the famous Bayeux Tapestry single handed.

Annette Banks, 46, was one of the eleven children of Canning Town postman Walter Sainsbury and his wife Pauline. But the happy family were devastated when they learned Annette, their seventh child, had Cushing’s Syndrome and may not see her 20th birthday.

The disease meant the little girl was hyper active and her growth was stunted. She also had over active adrenal glands and became severely obese. By her teens she was only 4’2" tall, but her large body and 38" waist made her shy away from the world. So she started to sew.

Her aunts were talented artists and embroiderers and Annette still had a sampler made by her great, great aunt in 1886. So using embroidery threads given to her for Christmas and birthdays, she started to practice the stitches she had learned at primary school.

Her illness caused her to miss a lot of schooling but amazingly she still achieved 11 'O' levels at grade A. Soon she was spending seven hours a day on her embroidery. Without the help of any patterns, she created a number of tapestries of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and of historical figures sometimes using pillow cases as her canvas.

She had a passion for English History and her Dad suggested she should have a go at making a replica of the famous Bayeux Tapestry. Completed in the 1070’s and over 70 metres long, the tapestry depicts the Norman invasion of England in 1066.

"It was the first time I had seen my tapestry’s full length. It looked quite good. But the real thing made me want to make mine longer, so I made up my own ending, adding another 5’ to it." She lined the finished article and embroidered her name on it.

Annette has tried to have it exhibited in local museums but nowhere is big enough. "English Heritage may use it as part of their Battle of Hastings re-enactment in October. First I want to take it to my Dad’s grave in Hendon. I promised I would finish it for him and take it to his grave and show him."

Also embroidered on the tapestry are the words: "Dedicated to my wonderful father who has always given me inspiration." Annette said: "Although I was one of eleven children I was a bit spoilt by my Dad because of my illnessand I know he would have been thrilled I lived to finish the tapestry."

Pelican love

A sick pelican being nursed back to health at a wildlife centre has fallen in love - with one of the staff.

The bird displays mating rituals every time Alexis Bailey enters the room, and he attacks and bites anyone who approaches when they are together.

Ms Bailey, 47, can't even take a long weekend off work, because the pelican goes off his food and pines for her.

The pink-backed pelican, named Romeo , a native to sub-Saharan Africa, was rescued by the SSPCA after he got lost and landed on a pond at Haggerston Castle Holiday Park in Berwickshire in October.

Suffering from blood poisoning and having been attacked by other wildlife, he was taken to the SSPCA's Middlebank Wildlife Rehabilitation Unit in Fife.

Ms Bailey, the first person at the unit to deal with the bird, said: "I came in, gave him his antibiotics and got him settled down for the night. He seems to have been in love with me ever since."

His owners keep a collection of wildlife on the Isle of Man and are due to collect him soon, now that he has fully recovered. Ms Bailey admitted: "It will be very difficult when he leaves."

£410,000 for "that" dress

Accessorised with pearls, a cigarette holder and its wearer’s doe-eyed charm, Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress in Breakfast At Tiffany’s is one of cinema’s most iconic garments.

Yesterday it became the most expensive, selling at auction for £410,000 as the star attraction in a record-breaking sale of film and entertainment memorabilia at Christie’s in Kensington, West London.

At almost six times the estimated price of £70,000 the dress, worn in the 1961 film, accounted for almost half of the £1,038,112 raised in total.

Among the 276 other lots was James Bond’s first gun, the Walther PPK used by Sean Connery in Dr No, which sold for £54,000 and the hideous reindeer jumper worn by Colin Firth’s Mark Darcy for a particularly embarrassing Christmas party scene in Bridget Jones’ Diary. It fetched £1,080.

Sarah Hodgson, head of the popular entertainment and film department at Christie’s, London, said that the auction had set a record for a film memorabilia sale in this country.

Tasteless

Bah Humbug! isn't good enough for Jimmy Wright.

The Metchosin artist, known for his paintings of stylized polar bears, has put an effigy of Santa Claus on a cross on his front lawn to make a statement about the orgy of consumption in the modern world.

Above Santa's head, Wright has inscribed the words 'Sumptum Fac Donec Consumptus Sis.' Roughly translated, Wright said, it means 'Shop till you drop.'

"Santa represents frivolous consumption," Wright said yesterday, standing at the foot of the cross beneath the outstretched red-suited figure. "That's all he is. He shot Jesus right out of the saddle. He's the focus of Christmas."

The idea for the work started brewing about eight months ago, said the artist. Wright started looking for wood. In early August, he bought a Santa costume. Then he called a friend who works with fabric and traded a painting for her help.

"But the final straw was looking at a report on CNN which said we will have effectively fished out the ocean. And I thought 'Oh Jesus. We're suffocating the goose that lays the natural egg. We have to stop the orgy of consumption."

Natural egg or not -- some of Wright's neighbours are deeply upset.

I am a thief !

ALBANY — Breanna Klewitz spent two hours Wednesday walking a block of sidewalk outside the Dougherty County Superior Court building, carrying one sign that read, “I AM A THIEF” and another that read “I STOLE WHAT YOU WORKED FOR.”

Klewitz was walking off part of an eight-hour sentence handed down by Dougherty County Superior Court Judge Loring Gray for a burglary at a Quiznos restaurant in June.

Public shaming is “something I used to do some years ago with fair regularity,” Gray said. “I just have readopted the policy.”

Gray said he wants people that steal to know that they’re going to face public attention for their crimes. As part of the sentences, Gray said he requires thieves to make their own signs according to certain specifications, among them that the messages have to be visible from 25 feet away.

Gray said prosecutors suggested Klewitz serve weekends in jail, but said that would have accomplished “little or nothing.” She would have been “hidden from public view, and it would have cost the taxpayers of Dougherty County.”

Klewitz, a former assistant manager at the restaurant, her boyfriend and another person were accused of stealing money from the Quiznos register.

Elf-trapment ?

Santa may reward the nice, but, Thursday, one of his elves was punishing the naughty. The elf happened to be an Orange County sheriff's deputy and he gave a little extra sting to some speeding tickets.

Richard Lockman stands 5-foot-6. He's dressed in green and red. He's wearing tights. And he even has pointy shoes. But he's no ordinary elf.

"I'm Santa's helper today, helping to save lives so we can help these people enjoy their Christmas, so their families can enjoy their Christmas without the tragedy of traffic crashes," Deputy Lockman told Eyewitness News on Thursday.

With a sign that said, "Help An Elf - Slow Down," Lockman clocked the speed, while an army of 20 little helpers bagged the speeders along University Boulevard near Pelee Street.
"This stretch of highway is notorious for traffic crashes, around the holidays and full time throughout the year," explained Commander Ken Wynn, Orange County Sheriff's Office.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office got a complaint call that it wasn't right to use Santa to stop speeders. But Lockman was no Santa, just an elf armed with a radar gun.

"It's absolutely terrible. Why would they do that? It's not what Christmas is about in any way," said ticketed driver Tiffany Coy.

Like so many who were stopped, Coy thought the elf was more like a Grinch.

"Yes, I saw elf. I think that's quite entrapment, but what are you gonna do," she said.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office wrote 53 tickets in 45 minutes and wound up writing a total of about 180 in the nearly three-hour detail. Two people were also arrested, one for marijuana and another for illegal firearms.

Deputies were able to write the tickets in only two hours and 45 minutes thanks to new technology. Now, a driver's license is scanned through a handheld computer and, after the infraction is loaded in, a copy of the ticket is printed out.

One deputy told Eyewitness News he's gone from writing 12 tickets a day, to 60. The machines were paid through a state grant.

Parking picnickers

A group of people have escaped prosecution after they paid money into a parking meter - but instead of parking a car, they set up a table and had a picnic.

The group, in Charleston, South Carolina, were accused of 'obstructing public ways' after they fed the meter, then sat down and had pizza and drank (nonalcoholic) beer in the parking space.

They had the picnic to try to promote more reclaiming streets from vehicles, and encourage more outdoor dining. Picnic organiser Vince Graham said that he hoped his prosecution would turn into the 'trial of the century', thus boosting his cause.

Sadly for him, those hopes were dashed when the city dropped the charges. Best laid plans, and all that.

Still, on the plus side, the rogue picnickers will get to meet the city's Mayor, Joseph P. Reilly Jr, to talk about making the city more pedestrian friendly.

At the time of writing, it is not known if that involve turning more parking spaces into picnic slots.

Bucket nap

A man takes a little nap, in a bucket, upside down on a street in Edinburgh.

On Princes Street, to be precise, just outside Jenners department store, which as nice a place as any to do it.

(Please note: we hope it's not one of the other Jenners stores, or we'll look silly and bad at identifying Scottish locations. It looks like Princes Street, okay? The paving stones are the right colour.)

Can I have me job back ?

A CAR salesman told his boss he could stick his job after mistakenly believing he had scooped £1 million on a scratchcard.

Steve Moseley, 36, misread the numbers on his 24 Karat Gold scratchcard and, thinking he had won, started dancing on his desk.

He threw all his money at colleagues at the used-car dealership, Fortnums, in Fareham, Hampshire, and sent one of them out to buy champagne.

He told his shocked boss that he was quitting because he was a millionaire and then called his girlfriend, Theresa Parsons, 27, to share the news.

But his celebrations were cut short when he called the National Lottery's claim hotline and was told he had mistaken a 16 for a 15 on his scratchcard, turning him from an instant millionaire into a jobless car salesman.

Moseley, of Gosport, Hampshire, then had to plead for his position.

"I went from thinking I had a million quid to having to beg for my job back," he has said. "I also had to ring the girlfriend and tell her I was a plonker."

The news made him physically sick, he said.

His boss gave him back his job, but he resigned days later and now works at another car dealership.

Rather lie than face the wife

A German cyclist lied to police about being mugged because he was afraid to tell his wife the truth: he rode into a lamppost while drunk and injured himself.

The man, 30, called police and said he had been mugged by six youths while walking home.

"He said he beat off two of them, and that the rest fled through bushes behind the pavement," Peter Grimm, a spokesman for police in the southern town of Schwabach, said on Thursday.

Police became suspicious after finding a wire fence behind the bushes and, Grimm said, the man then "admitted he had made it all up as a cover story because he was afraid of his wife".

He now faces charges for being drunk while in charge of a bicycle and faking a crime. Police had carried out a blood test that proved he was drunk when they first interviewed him.

Fire doesn't deter shoppers

MENTOR, Ohio - An electrical fire that filled a department store with thick smoke didn't deter holiday shoppers, and firefighters had to block the doors to keep customers from coming in, authorities said.

No one was injured in the fire at Dillards South at Great Lakes Mall on Wednesday, but some bargain hunters were inconvenienced.

"It was amazing," said Mentor fire Battalion Chief Joe Busher. "Even though there was heavy smoke in there, they all wanted to stay and shop. We even had to put people at the door to keep people from coming in."

The fire burned circuits of a high-voltage electrical panel near a women's dressing, firefighters said. It took them eight minutes to put it out.

Busher estimated fire damage of about $30,000 and about $100,000 in smoke damage to merchandise.

Manager Mary White said the store would reopen Friday.

Gutsy granny

TYLER, Texas - Carjacked at knifepoint while pumping gas, a 75-year-old woman didn't give in without a fight. Mary Gean Smyth opened the door of her sport utility vehicle and doused the assailant in gas.

"I'm sure he was burning like mad," Smyth said of the Tuesday carjacking. "I mean, I drowned him right in the face."

Police caught up to Smyth's GMC Denali Envoy at a restaurant and arrested 52-year-old John Clay Stricker Jr., a transient with an address in the North Texas town of Lake Kiowa, Tyler police spokesman Don Martin said.

Smyth said police told her the suspect had apparently taken a shower because he had a bag with fuel-soaked clothes and a bar of soap, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported in its Wednesday editions.

Smyth's wallet and credit cards were found in the car, but her cash was gone. A representative of the Brookshire grocery store, where Smyth was getting gas, has offered to pay for car cleaning and repairs, Smyth said.

Stricker was being held without bail Tuesday in the Smith County Jail on charges of parole violation, aggravated robbery and theft.

Wrong place, wrong time, wrong planet

CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A man who police say tried to pass a counterfeit check at a Wal-Mart chose the wrong store at the wrong time. Dozens of officers were at the suburban Detroit store Tuesday helping needy children pick out items as part of an annual "Shop with a Cop" charity event.

That didn't stop Calvin E. Fluckes Jr., 21, from pulling into the parking lot next to 40 marked squad cars, police said. He apparently was unfazed by the police presence as he tried to pay for merchandise with a poorly photocopied check for $847.83.

The cashier called over a manager, who alerted one of the 80 officers who happened to be in the store.

"He was immediately apprehended," Chesterfield Township police Lt. David Marker told the Detroit Free Press. "I can't even imagine what he was thinking."

Fluckes was arraigned Wednesday on one count of uttering and publishing. He was being held in the Macomb County Jail on $2,000 bail.

He could face up to 14 years in prison if convicted, The Detroit News reported.

Miraculous recovery

A boy whose head was effectively severed from his neck in a racing car crash "which should have killed him" has made a miraculous recovery.

Chris Stewart, 12, suffered an internal decapitation, separating his skull and neck, when he hit a barrier at a track near Alton, Hampshire on 24 September.

His father told BBC News doctors had given Chris a 10% chance of survival.

But only two months later he was moved to a rehabilitation unit and is now planning to spend Christmas at home.... read MORE

Bluebird to be re-built

The daughter of speed hero Donald Campbell is to restore her father's ill-fated Bluebird craft to its former glory and donate it to a museum.

Gina Campbell has signed the wreck over to Coniston's Ruskin Museum which is to seek funds to build an extension.

It follows two failed bids by Ms Campbell for money from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Mr Campbell died on Coniston Water in 1967 trying to break his own speed record. The boat was recovered in 2001.

The Ruskin Museum must now try to raise about £750,000 to build an extension in which to house the craft.

Bill Smith, the diver who located and raised the boat, is working free of charge to restore the craft to full working order.

In September, a bid for funds was turned down by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), which favoured more "wide ranging proposals".

An initial bid was rejected in 2005.

Million mile car

MILWAUKEE — As a traveling salesman, Peter Gilbert has put a few miles on his car — 1,001,385 miles, to be precise.
It took the Glendale man 17 years to cross the million mile mark with his 1989 Saab 900 SPG. He recently donated the durable vehicle to the Wisconsin Automotive Museum after Saab verified the mileage.

The transmission was rebuilt at 200,000 miles and the hood and a few other parts replaced after eight deer collisions, but otherwise it has original equipment.

Gilbert bought the Saab for $29,000. It was his treat after a divorce, and he took meticulous care of it. He used premium, synthetic oil in oil changes, changed the tires every 45,000 miles and strictly followed the maintenance schedule.

He drove the car seven days a week, racking up the miles as his work took him through rural Wisconsin.

"When I hit 600,000 miles, the car still wasn't burning oil," Gilbert said. "That's when I thought it could go a million miles."

But Wisconsin's harsh winters took a toll on the car. Its sporty exterior still looks good, but road salt has rusted its frame. Gilbert realized it might no longer be safe if he hit another deer or had a serious accident.

"There was no point in driving the car any longer," he said. "Even though it might have gone another million miles."

He had it detailed and parked it at the Hartford museum, which houses a number of rare vehicles.

Then Gilbert bought another Saab with fewer miles.

Bogus Lottery tickets

Pennsylvania - A Schuylkill County man gets probation for planting a bogus "winning" lottery ticket at his work.

James Koons, Jr. of Hegins will serve a year on probation and pay a $2500 fine. Koons created a fake ticket on his computer, and then hid it under a newspaper at the Roadway Express in Carlisle.

Koons said the lottery ticket was just a joke, but police say the prank became a crime when an unwitting co-worker tried to claim the Powerball jackpot.

Redneck pig tossing

WEST POINT, Miss. -- Pig tossing has the police stumped in West Point, Miss.

Kevin Pugh, 20, was fined $279 this week for tossing a 60-pound pig over the counter at the Holiday Inn Express on Nov. 12. West Point Police Lt. Danny McCaskill said, "It must be some redneck thing."

McCaskill said no one was hurt, including the pig. He said it's silliest thing he's ever seen.

Pugh pleaded guilty Tuesday in city court to a charge of disturbing the peace. There's no evidence intoxication was a factor. McCaskill said Pugh called the incident a prank.

It's the second recent pig throwing and fourth animal tossing incident in town. Two of the incidents involved opossum.

McCaskill said he's never heard of anything like it. Pugh is also accused in an animal throwing incident at a Hardee's restaurant.

He's pleaded not guilty and is due in court later this month.

You gotta love Christmas !

Ex-ter-min-ate !

A Doctor Who fan has made a Dalek he can sit inside, complete with voicebox, to scare away rowdy students from his street.

It rasps: 'I don't like students. You will be exter- min-ated!' at passers-by.

Andrew Simpson, 22, who took eight months to make the Doctor Who creature at a cost of £1,000, claims his tactics have worked and the street is quieter.

He said: 'We live right by the university and there's loads of them here – but they're no match for the Dalek.'

Mr Simpson, who has a TV and film memorabilia business, now plans to make it squirt water and smoke, and take it into the centre of his home city of York – this time just as a bit of fun.

'The best bit is just sitting in it and waiting for someone to approach. When someone comes up to touch you shout “Exterminate!” and they jump out of their skin.'

Britain's last witch to be pardoned ?

The family of the last person in the UK to be prosecuted under the Witchcraft Act will mark the 50th anniversary of her death by calling for her pardon.

Medium Helen Duncan, who was born in Callander, Perthshire, was imprisoned using the law during World War II. She was targeted by the government after revealing to a séance audience that a warship had sunk before the news had been released to the public.

Her grand-daughter is particularly angry at the accusations of treason.

Mary Martin, of Edinburgh, said Mrs Duncan had been accused of being a traitor.

"When she first came back home after prison she was never the same. She always had a bit of a glow about her but she seemed to have lost that. Some people said it was treason. My grandmother had two sons and two son in laws in the forces ... and there is no way she would have given anybody information."

Mrs Duncan became one of the most famous mediums of her time, heading a network of spiritualist churches.

During the war she lived in Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy. At a séance in 1943 it was claimed that the spirit of a sailor from the HMS Barham appeared. The vessel was only officially declared lost several months later.

She was arrested in 1944 and sentenced to nine months in prison at the Old Bailey for crimes under the Witchcraft Act of 1735.

While in prison she was visited by Winston Churchill.

When he was re-elected in 1951 the Witchcraft Act was repealed and three years later spiritualism was officially recognised as a religion.

Campaigners to pardon Mrs Duncan have set up an online petition. The campaign is backed by the British Society of Paranormal Studies.

Medium Mary Armour, who wrote her biography, said: "She has put us on the right side of the law by bringing in the 1952 act."

Parking free-for-all

The suspension of Tewkesbury's only traffic warden has led to a drivers' free-for-all in the market town.

Traders are complaining illegal parking is causing congestion in the streets and is bad for business.

Traffic warden Nigel Greene, 49, was suspended over claims his part-time job as a taxi driver represented a conflict of interest.

Parking tickets

"It's a free-for-all. People are parking on double yellow lines, loading bays, and it's causing quite a lot of problems," said Mike Ricketts, who works at Motorworld on the High Street. It's getting worse in the run-up to Christmas and people are getting fed up."

Gloucestershire Police who employ Mr Greene said drivers who think they can park where they like are in for a shock.

"I can assure you that drivers won't get away with parking anywhere they like," said Sgt Clive Patterson.

On Wednesday community support officers were out on the streets of Tewkesbury issuing parking tickets to offenders.

Striptease is an art-form

A Norwegian appeals court has ruled that striptease is an art form and should therefore be exempt from value-added tax (VAT).

The owners of the Diamond Go Go Bar in Oslo had refused to pay VAT of 25% on entry fees as tax authorities demanded.

The local authority had taken the club to court over its refusal to pay tax.

Lawyers for the club's owners argued that striptease dancers were stage artists just like sword-swallowers and comedians and deserved the same status.

"Striptease, in the way it is practised in this case, is a form of dance combined with acting," the judges ruled, according to AFP news agency.

The court's ruling upholds an earlier verdict of May 2005.

"One can suspect there were moral scruples behind the tax authorities' claim since all forms of stage dance are free of value-added tax," Reuters news agency quoted the club owners' lawyer as saying.

The court ordered the state to cover the court costs of the owners of the Diamond Go Go Bar.

Pretty police collection

STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Two Swedish border control officers risk disciplinary action for keeping a photo collection of "exceptionally beautiful" women that passed through their checkpoint, police officials said Tuesday.

The officers, who were working at a ferry terminal near Stockholm, made photocopies of the women's passport photos and placed them in a binder. They also noted the date of birth next to each entry, the Stockholm police department said.

The binder contained instructions on how to compile the collection, and orders to make backup copies in case the binder would go missing or be confiscated by "evil-minded bores," police said.

The instructions also stated that only "exceptionally beautiful" women belonged in the collection, and that no personal data, aside from the date of birth, should be included.

The men's employer found the binder and reported the two officers to police, but the matter was dismissed because the compilation was not considered illegal.

Stockholm police passed the matter to the national police's disciplinary board, which recommended the men receive a warning.

Nothing like an angry woman

A woman in Fulton County, Ga., who was angry with her boyfriend when the pair went to bed over the weekend, poured gasoline on his genitals and ignited a fire, according to police.

Fulton County police said Bobby Thompson and his girlfriend Cynthia Covington had a fight Saturday morning and Thompson went to bed. However, Covington was still upset, the report said.

Covington then allegedly poured gasoline between Thompson's legs and ignited a fire. Covington also caught fire, the report said.

Both were transported to Grady Hospital's burn unit.

Covington was in critical condition Sunday night while Thompson was listed in stable condition.

Covington faces aggravated assault and arson charges.

What a fucktard !

TACOMA, Wash. -- For nearly 20 years - ever since Pete Costello was 8 - his mother has collected disability benefits on his behalf. In meetings with Social Security officials and psychologists, he appeared mentally retarded and unable to communicate. His mother insisted he couldn't read or write, shower, take care of himself or drive a car.

But now prosecutors say it was all a huge fraud, and they have video of Costello contesting a traffic ticket to prove it.

"He's like any other person trying to get out of a traffic ticket," Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Barbosa said Tuesday.

Pete and Rosie Marie Costello were indicted in September on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government and Social Security fraud. The Vancouver pair pleaded not guilty in federal court in Tacoma on Tuesday after the case was unsealed.

Barbosa filed with the court two videos of Pete Costello taken this year: In one, he allegedly feigns retardation during an interview with Social Security workers by slouching unresponsive in a corner, picking his nose; the other is of him contesting the traffic ticket in a courtroom earlier this year.

Pete Costello sat in court Tuesday, saying nothing, but showing no outward sign he is retarded. Instead of living with his mother, he works as an auto-body repairman and lives with a girlfriend and two of her children, prosecutors said.

Court documents indicate prosecutors believe his mother, 46, pulled the same trick with a daughter, whom officials have been unable to locate. All told, she raked in $222,000 on their behalf, according to the documents.

Barbosa said the government does not know whether Costello is retarded to some degree, but he clearly has been "exaggerating whatever he may have, if any."

"This person isn't being honest with the government about his condition," Barbosa said. "It makes it impossible to sort out."

Both Costellos remained in custody pending a detention hearing on Friday because both have moved multiple times in recent years.

And that traffic ticket? Pete Costello persuaded the court to give him a deferment.

Car-azy !

New Zealand - A Hamilton man with just five per cent sight took the wheel of a car from a drunk driver and was guided by a drunk passenger.

They crashed !

Musician Te Aute Matuakore Collier, 29, admitted a charge of reckless driving when he appeared before Judge Phil Connell in the Hamilton District Court.

A police summary of facts said Collier was in the back of a car being driven on Anglesea St on December 13, 2004.

The driver and the front-seat passenger were both drunk and Collier told the driver to pull over so he could drive.

The front-seat passenger helped steer the car and both passengers told Collier to turn into the Countdown Supermarket carpark.

But Collier missed the entrance and hit a retaining wall and sign. Part of the retaining wall broke.

He told police he was parking the vehicle so it was not blocking the road.

Collier was disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to pay $130 court costs.

World chess champ loses to a computer

BONN, Germany - World chess champion Vladimir Kramnik lost his final game in a match against computer program Deep Fritz on Tuesday, ceding a hard-fought Man vs. Machine series 4-2.

Kramnik, seeking a final win to level the match, played an unbalanced opening with Black. He built up a good position and equalized. But he then went astray, losing a pawn from which he never recovered.

The Russian takes home $500,000 (euro375,000) - half of what he would have received if he had won against Deep Fritz, a commercially available chess program that runs on a powerful personal computer.

Holey crap !

NEW YORK - A woman out walking Monday was swallowed by the sidewalk when it caved in under her.

The woman, 64, fell into a sinkhole about 5 feet by 2 feet wide and about 5 feet deep in front of a house in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn.

Firefighters rushed to the woman's aid, using metal hooks to pull concrete chunks off her before strapping her to a stretcher and removing her from the hole.

The woman, who had just picked up her two grandchildren from a nearby dance school and gone to a grocery store, was taken to a hospital Monday evening and was expected to be OK, firefighters said. She chuckled when they commented on how her groceries had spilled into the hole, they said.

The people who live in the house said it appeared the foundation under the sidewalk had been washed away.

Woman has son arrested for opening Xmas pressie

What is the penalty for opening your Christmas presents too early?

For one South Carolina 12-year-old, the penalty was arrest.

A Rock Hill, S.C., woman called police and asked them to arrest her son who opened a Christmas present early after being told not to, the Rock Hill Herald reported. Police went to the house and arrested the boy and charged him with petty larceny.

The paper reported that the boy's great-grandmother had specifically told him not to open his present, which contained a Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It was wrapped and lying under the Christmas tree, the police report stated.

But on Sunday morning, the gift was unwrapped and the box was empty. So when the boy's mother found out, she alerted police, the paper reported.

"He took it without permission. He wanted it. He just took it," the 63-year-old great-grandmother told the Herald.

The women said that the boy lied to them at first, saying he was unaware of where the video game system was. After threat of calling the police, the boy apparently gave the toy back to his mother, the paper reported. But the upset mother called police anyway.

Two officers responded and charged the child as a juvenile with petty larceny, although he was not jailed.

The mother told the Herald that she didn't know what else to do with her son, so she called police. The paper reported she is a single mother and has been struggling with constant behavior problems from the boy. She said her son still showed no remorse when the police came.

"I'm trying to get him some kind of help," the 27-year-old mother told the paper. "He's the type of kid who doesn't believe anything until it happens."

She said he has shoplifted, stolen money from her, punched a police officer and is nearing expulsion from school. She told the paper that she hopes this arrest will be a wake-up call for her son, because she worries about getting a call someday telling her he's been killed.

The mother plans to have her son placed with the state Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia at his court appearance, the Herald reported.

Farty flight

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- What do you do if you pass embarrassing gas on an airplane? One woman found out what not to do.

A Nashville International Airport spokeswoman said an American Airlines plane bound for Texas had to make an emergency landing Monday morning in Nashville after matches were lit in flight.

The pilot said the concern was what passengers said they smelled inside the aircraft and that he did not feel it was safe to continue on.
"About 6:30 this morning, an American Airlines pilot called the FAA tower reporting that passengers were smelling fumes like matches being struck within the cabin," said airport spokeswoman Lynne Lowrance.

The 99 passengers and five crew members were taken inside the terminal after landing so the plane could be checked out.

"They did find evidence of where matches had been struck in an individual's seating area. That individual is being questioned by the FBI at this time," Lowrance said.

A woman passenger told investigators that she lit matches to mask gas that she emitted.

"You can take up to eight books of safety matches, the paper matches, onto the aircraft," Lowrance said.

Just before noon authorities said the passengers re-boarded the plane and continued on to Texas.

The female passenger was released without being charged, but was not allowed back on the American Airlines flight.

Urban exploration

A potentailly deadly new craze of scaling scaffolding on Sheffield's tallest buildings and exploring derelict sites was today branded "criminal".

Enthusiasts of urban exploration - described as the examination of normally unseen or off-limits areas of towns and cities - were condemned after targeting Sheffield Cathedral and the former Jessop Women's Hospital and then posting pictures on the internet.

Their exploits are detailed on website www.28dayslater.co.uk - one of a network of internet web pages dedicated to the risky pastime - and include two visits to Sheffield Cathedral. Explorers boasted how they evaded a security guard, whom they claimed was watching TV, to get to scaffolding at the base of the cathedral for workmen to carry out repairs.

They said they also avoided the attention of nearby police by wearing high visibility jackets, before climbing up the tower and taking spectacular photographs of the view.
On a trip to the former Jessop Hospital, Brook Hill - now owned by Sheffield University - a group climbed in through an open window before peering around old corridors and even exploring the mortuary.
Urban explorers say they have also visited derelict warehouses and buildings once associated with the steel industry

They stress their aim is to take pictures of Sheffield's heritage before it is lost to redevelopment, and say they do not cause any damage.

Pothole calendar

People in the small town of Leader in Western Canada are so fed up with the rotten state of their main road that they came up with an unusual form of protest -- a calendar that shows them posing nude in the potholes.

One inhabitant of Leader, Saskatchewan, is shown sitting in a canoe that is perched in a pothole. Another has his dignity preserved by a well-placed camera while a third man covers up with a strategic hubcap.

"The initial impression when people open the calendar for the first time is 'Oh my God!' It's pretty dramatic," said Wayne Elhard, the local member of the provincial legislature.

Leader, a town of just 1,000 in a largely farming area of southwest Saskatchewan, says it can't afford to fix all its roads.

"The potholes are not small, one-foot diameter potholes. They are many feet across and sometimes they're as deep as a foot deep and sometimes they will stretch for yards (meters)," Elhard told CBC television on Wednesday.

He said that, over the summer, local authorities had covered the worst stretch of the main road with gravel to improve safety.

"It's been a constant problem. We've raised it with the (provincial) government every opportunity we had ... all to no avail, frankly," he said.

You can buy the calendar HERE

Legless looney

A MAN who lost both legs in a rail accident when he was just nine led police on a 80mph three-mile car chase using wooden poles to control the pedals.

Robert Bate, 27, of Seventh Street, Blackhall, County Durham, modified the K-reg Vauxhall Astra to allow him to drive it despite his handicap.

But he was jailed for 12 months and banned for two years at Newcastle Crown Court after he admitted dangerous driving and other driving offences.

Grease is the word

A factory manager in east China has been arrested for using grease from swill, sewage, pesticides and recycled industrial oil to make lard for human consumption, state media said Monday in the country's latest food scare.

Ying Fuming, a manager at the Fanchang Grease Factory in Taizhou, a city in Zhejiang province, sold the lard at half the price of other wholesalers while promising that his product met safety standards, the Shanghai Daily said.

The factory was shut down and local health and food authorities began an investigation this year after an anonymous tip indicated that the plant "recycled large amounts of used grease to process substandard lard," the newspaper said.

It is the latest incident involving substandard or fake food products in China, where there is rampant counterfeiting of food and medicines.

China's food safety watchdog announced last month that seven companies that produced salted, red-yolk duck eggs used potentially cancer-causing red dyes.

In 2004, at least 12 infants died from malnutrition after drinking phony formula in a city in the eastern province of Anhui. More than 200 babies suffered wasted limbs and swollen heads - common symptoms of malnutrition.

The Taizhou factory, which opened in September 2005, was ordered shut down but continued operating at night, the Shanghai Daily said. It sold its product to retailers across the country, who sold it to clients, including hotels and restaurants, it said.

In a recent night raid, officers found 83,000 pounds of raw materials and 11,600 pounds of lard, the newspaper said without providing any more details.

"Some was recycled edible grease, such as oil refined from swill and cooked oil," it said. "Some was grease rendered from sewage, and some was recycled industrial grease."

By law, only pure fat from hogs can be used to produce edible lard, the newspaper said.

Samples from the Fanchang factory showed an acid value more than 11 times higher than the national limit, it said.

Britain's cheapest house

Britain's cheapest house is up for sale — at just £1,000.

The reserve price was put at rock-bottom because that’s where the buyer could soon find themselves. For the three-bed semi is built on top of a thousand-foot deep mine shaft which threatens to open up at any time.

Owners Martin and Susan Legg put it up for auction after a survey found the old tin workings under their feet. The Leggs’ granite-built Victorian house in Redruth, Cornwall, has a neat back garden and would normally fetch well over £100,000.

But the couple — who bought it for an estimated £5,000 in 1989 — are offering it with a reserve price of just £1,000 at auction on Wednesday.

Auctioneer Graham Barton said it is very rare to put such a small reserve price on to a well-kept property.

He said: “It means the sellers want the house to go quickly. There are certain mining features causing issues in the area. When buying any house in Cornwall you are taking a chance as many areas are riddled with mines and tunnels.”

The Leggs, who live at 4, Wheal Harmony, paid £2,000 for the survey which included drilling metal poles and dropping cameras into the ground around their house.There is a history of gardens disappearing suddenly around Redruth.

In 2002 elderly Len and Winnie Semmens, who live 600 yards from the Leggs, woke to find a 200ft hole in their garden after torrential rain softened earth which caved in. Another house in the street was demolished a few years ago because the owner knew there was a shaft nearby.

There are 5,000 shafts around Redruth which have been capped with concrete — but many are still unstable.

101 uses for a teapot #13

The crew of an RAF Nimrod, from Kinloss in Moray, used a teapot to block a hole in their plane after a hatch door failed to shut properly.

Today, the base said their safety had not been compromised and added that the teapot was used to make the men more “comfortable” and not because of safety fears.

The Nimrod, which was on an operational flight, had taken off from Cornwall and was on its way back to Kinloss when the problem occurred.

An RAF Kinloss spokeswoman said the recent incident involved a hatch from which sonar buoys are thrown during search and rescue missions.

“There was a minor malfunction with the hatch cover and the teapot would have been used to make it more comfortable for the crew, at no time was air crew safety compromised.”

Concerns about the Nimrod fleet have been raised following a crash in Afghanistan in September, in which 14 servicemen, 12 of whom were from RAF Kinloss, died.

Hole in the wall

A north China construction firm on Sunday paid a 500,000 yuan (63,776 U.S. dollars) fine for deliberately damaging the Great Wall, according to the local cultural heritage protection bureau.

Hongji Landbridge Investment Development Inc. began construction of a highway through a section of the Great Wall in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, without government approval in March.

Regional cultural heritage protection officials said the company refused to halt construction even after warnings and suggestions that they change the course, excavate channels, or set up viaducts.

Wang Dafang, an official with the regional cultural heritage bureau, said the construction led to the demolition of large sections of the Great Wall and three ancient villages under government protection.

The bureau issued the fine according to cultural heritage protection laws on Oct. 20, Wang added.

The Great Wall stretches more than 6,700 kilometers from west to northeast China. Its dates back to the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), when separate sections were built in scattered strategic areas to defend against invasion by northern nomadic tribes.

Experts said the Wall has suffered extensive natural and human damage in recent years. Only 30 percent of the Wall built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) still stands.

China's first regulation on the protection of the Great Wall, which came into effect on Friday, prohibits the removal of soil or bricks from the Wall, planting trees, carving on the wall or building anything that does not protect it.

It also bans the use of motor vehicles on the world heritage site and the unauthorized organization of activities open to tourists.

Those who violate the regulations can be fined 10,000 to 50,000 yuan (1,276 to 6,378 U.S. dollars) while institutions can be fined 50,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan (6,378 to 63,776 U.S. dollars).

Grandfather lobster

A lobster is drawing the crowds in the northern Algerian coastal town of Jijel after a local fisherman landed an unusually elderly catch.

Abdelkader, who goes by one name, netted the sexagenarian shellfish and six others who the fisherman estimates have accumulated, at a pinch, 300 years between them.

The age of the veteran crustaceans was determined by their weight, according to the standard formula of 100 grams per year.

Abdelkader caught the 62-year-old senior shellfish, who he named grandfather, at a depth of 300 metres with two 59-year olds, dubbed grandmother and uncle, mum and dad aged 48 and 46 and two young nippers.

Abdelkader proudly displayed his haul to the public in a tank, but warned that anyone wanting to buy the 36 kilograms of seafood would have to shell out 120,000 dinars

Record Santa dash

Thousands of people dressed as Santa Claus have taken part in the English city of Liverpool's annual "Santa Dash", setting a new world record in the process, organisers of the event say.

To raise money for local charities, about 5,000 people dressed up in red suits, white beards and black boots and ran for five kilometres through the streets.

The feat dwarfed last year's event that saw the north-west city earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the most Santas in one place at one time with 3,921.

Though more than 5,000 people filled in applications to enter the 2006 event, the exact number of runners along with the total amount raised was not to be confirmed for several weeks.

The event's website acknowledges that it will faces stiff competition for the world record from an event in Las Vegas later this month.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Santas also dressed up to take part in similar charity runs in two Welsh cities, Newtown and Oswestry, attracting a total of just under 2,000 runners.

See more pictures (81) HERE

It's a rap !

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - City leaders have apologized after a program on Tempe's cable channel showed a white police officer telling two black men they could get out of a littering ticket by performing a rap.

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman and Police Chief Tom Ryff apologized for the show Thursday and suspended its future production after black community leaders voiced outrage and disappointment.

"I accept responsibility for the actions of my staff and apologize to any members of our community who have been offended," Ryff said during a news conference Friday.

The segment appeared on "Tempe StreetBeat," a program produced by police in the Phoenix suburb that followed several officers on patrol. It shows Sgt. Chuck Schoville pulling over two men in August in a mall parking lot.

He first asks for a name and ID from the driver and then asks the two men if they know how much the fine is for littering.

The officer then tells the men that they can avoid getting a littering ticket "if the two of you just do a little rap about - what do you want to do a rap about? Littering? About the dangers of littering."

The two men agree, and each performs a short rap, laughing afterward. One says, "The dangers of littering, you will get a ticket. If you ain't wit' it, you better be experienced."

The second man raps, "Yo, I just got pulled over 'cause I threw my trash out the window when they rolled over. They got behind me and pulled me over."

Later, Schoville talks football with the men, one of whom agrees with his prediction that the Oakland Raiders will make it to the Super Bowl this year.

Schoville then says, "You know why you say I'm right? Because I got a gun and badge. I'm always right. That's the way it works, right?" The three laugh and the two men get in their car.

Leaders of chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Action Network expressed outrage and demanded that the city act.

Flame proof goat

For 40 years it has been torched, vandalized, had its legs cut off and even been run over by a car. But officials in the Swedish city of Gavle are guaranteeing that this year's giant straw Christmas goat - the victim of Sweden's most violent yule tradition - will survive unscathed.

The 43-foot-high goat - a centuries-old yule symbol that preceded Santa Claus as the bringer of gifts to Swedish homes - has been burned down 22 times since it was first set up in Gavle's square on Dec. 3, 1966.

But for its 40th anniversary Sunday, officials think they have finally outsmarted the resourceful vandals by dousing the battered ram with flame-resistant chemicals normally used on airplanes.

"It is impossible to burn it to the ground this year, although you might be able to singe its paws," said Anna Ostman, a spokeswoman for the committee in charge of building the goat. "After 40 years, we think we finally found the solution."

The company providing the fireproof treatment is so sure of its resilience that its spokesman Freddy Klassmo told newspaper Aftonbladet that "not even napalm can set fire to the goat now."

For those who want to follow its fate, a 24-hour Web cam has been set up to film the straw goat where it stands on the central square in Gavle, 90 miles north of Stockholm. However, the security guards that have watched over previous versions have been called off, Ostman said.

"We can sleep very soundly at night now," she said. "The goat can too."

While the origins of the Christmas goat are unclear, the symbol is believed to date back to Norse mythology and the two goats that drew the carriage of Thor, the god of thunder.

Many Swedes place a small straw goat underneath their Christmas tree, or hang miniature versions on the branches.

Since 1966, just 10 of Gavle's giant goats have survived beyond Christmas Day. Aside from being burned, several were beaten down and the 1976 goat was hit by a car.

The vandals are seldom caught, but the 2001 culprit - 51-year-old American Lawrence Jones - was convicted and spent 18 days in jail.

The 2005 vandals - who witnesses said were dressed up as Santa Claus and the Gingerbread Man - remain at large. The pair fired flaming arrows at the goat, reducing it to its steel skeleton.

Plonkers !

OFF-LICENCE bosses are braced for a massive rush of customers - after a money-saving promotion spun out of control on the internet.

Instead of going to just a few select customers, a 40 per cent off voucher has been downloaded by more than 500,000 people.Their websites are currently crashed !

The voucher entitles the holder to the discount on any wine or champagne in any of Thresher Group's 2000 stores between November 30 and December 10 - up to a maximum spend of £500.

Stores - which include Thresher, Victoria Wine and Haddows - have been inundated by shoppers who reckon they have found the Christmas bargain of 2006.

But bosses pledged to honour all vouchers until the cut-off date.

And they admitted that, while profits could be reduced, they will not make a loss on the offer.

A spokesman said: "We are scratching our heads wondering how we can meet this level of demand. We will honour all the coupons until December 10. But we are now thinking we might sell out of everything. We do have bottles of champagne in some stores retailing at around £100, so to then sell them for £60 will make quite a big difference to our profit levels."

The voucher was originally sent by Thresher to a little known South African winery, who put it on their website.

It was posted last Saturday, but within hours, word of it had spread across the internet.

The spokesman added: "Since then, it has snowballed and has caught us by surprise. Our phones and website have been going mad. So many people logged on to find their nearest shop on the store locator tool the whole thing has been crashing."

A member of staff at a Thresher in Glasgow said: "We are expecting a busy weekend."

The vouchers cannot be used with other in-store offers, including a deal offering three bottles for the price of two.

The voucher can be downloaded here ( as a PDF )

What's in your loft ?

When Natalie Summers called for a plumber to check out her noisy heating system , she discovered a tramp living in her loft.

She asked the workman to check the pipes after hearing creaking sounds above her flat for weeks. When the plumber opened the loft hatch he found a dishevelled tramp wrapped in a duvet staring down at him. The vagrant then leapt out and sauntered off.

Natalie, 27, said: “It’s scary. I’ve seen a film where a nutter lived in the attic and attacked the family. I never imagined the noise was caused by someone up there. All the man had to do was shift a couple of loose bricks and he could have spied on us. It makes me feel sick.”

Natalie lives on the top floor of a block of flats in York with her son, aged seven, and 14-month-old daughter.

The loft hatch is above the communal landing, so the man could have got in when no one was around. Natalie told how the plumber had to force the loft hatch open.

She said: “There was something pushing against him. When he got it open this mucky man leapt out. I’ve been told he had been urinating in the water pipes. We could have drunk it.”

Council chiefs said: “We made sure there was no one else up there.”

Other residents boarded up the loft.

Heil Santa !

A German chain of shops has removed miniature wooden Santa Claus figures from its shelves and destroyed them after customers complained it looked like they were giving the stiff-armed Hitler salute that is outlawed.

Josef Lange, a spokesman for the Rossmann chain that has 1,200 outlets, told Reuters on Friday the figures depicting Father Christmas with his right arm stiffly upright towards the sky and holding a sack in his left hand upset some customers.

"We were astonished by the reaction," Lange said. "It looks like he's just pointing up to the sky and we were surprised that anyone saw the so-called 'Hitler salute' in that. But we responded and had the entire inventory removed and destroyed."

Expensive kitty

Stuck for a Christmas present for that very special someone? Those with enough cash and a sufficiently heightened sense of cute might wish to splurge on a figurine of Sanrio's popular character Hello Kitty up for sale this month -- for 18.9 million yen (£18,300 $36,500).

The Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo has announced that it will sell one Hello Kitty figure made of pure platinum. Priced at 18.9 million yen, it is reportedly the most expensive Hello Kitty figure ever produced. It will go on sale on Tuesday.

The shiny figure is 5.6 centimeters high and weighs 590 grams. Its owner can attach seven different ribbons made of diamonds, rubies, and other precious gems to the figure and use it as a pendant.

The department store has put the figure on display in its special Christmas section. The buyer will be able to take the unique piece home on Dec. 21 -- albeit with a much lighter wallet.

Da Vinci's fingerprints unravelled

Experts have pieced together Leonardo da Vinci's left index fingerprint.

The discovery could help shed light on such matters as the food the artist ate and whether his mother was of Arabic origin.
The fingerprint reconstruction followed three years' research and could help attribute disputed paintings or manuscripts, said Italian anthropologist Luigi Capasso.

"It adds the first touch of humanity," he said. "We knew how Leonardo saw the world and the future . . . but who was he? This biological information is about his being human, not being a genius."

The research was based on photographs of about 200 fingerprints - most of them partial - taken from about 52 papers handled by Leonardo in his life.

The artist often ate while working, and Capasso and other experts said his finger prints could include traces of saliva, blood or the food he ate the night before - information that could help clear up questions about his origins.

For instance, experts determined that the finger print suggests Leonardo's mother was of "oriental origin".

"It's not like every population has typical fingerprints, but they do have specific proportions among their signs," Mr Capasso said. "The one we found in this finger tip applies to 60 per cent of the Arabic population."

Santa beer banned

A beer distributor says Maine is being a Scrooge by barring it from selling a beer with a label depicting Santa Claus enjoying a pint of brew.

In a complaint filed in federal court, Shelton Brothers accuses the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement of censorship for denying applications for labels for Santa's Butt Winter Porter and two other beers it wants to sell in Maine.

The dispute recalls a similar squabble last year when Connecticut told Shelton Brothers it had problems with its Seriously Bad Elf ale.

"Last year it was elves. This year it's Santa. Maybe next year it'll be reindeer," said Daniel Shelton, owner of the company in Belchertown, Mass.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, contends the state's action violates the First Amendment by censoring artistic expression.

But the state says it's within its rights. The label with Santa might appeal to children, said Maine State Police Lt. Patrick Fleming. The other two labels are considered inappropriate because they show bare-breasted women.

"We stand by our decision and at some point it'll go through the court system and somebody will make the decision on whether we are right or wrong," he said.

The lawsuit was brought by the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which says the beer labels are entitled to First Amendment protection.

"There is no good reason for the state to censor art, even art found on a beer label," said Zachary Heiden, staff attorney for the MCLU.

Britain's too warm for ice rink

The opening of an outdoor ice rink has been delayed because it has melted during the warmest autumn on record.

The skating rink at Warwick Castle was expected to open on Saturday but there have been problems freezing the water.

Now bosses have shipped in 15 tons of ice from Grimsby in an attempt to get the rink cold enough.

It comes after the Met Office said an average temperature of 12.6C had made this the warmest autumn in central England since records began in 1659.

Jo Biggs, from Warwick Castle, said: "Due to the unusually mild weather getting the rink frozen is proving very challenging, however, we're doing everything we can to get it ready."

She said alternative time slots would be offered to people who had already booked tickets for the rink.

The ice delivered from Humberside has solidified but more layers of water are being frozen to obtain a safe thickness of ice.

Ms Biggs said guests should check the castle's website to check for updates on the rink.

An ice slide at the castle has been unaffected as it is in a sheltered area and has opened on time.

And we didn't know this ?

It is something one half of the population has long suspected - and the other half always vocally denied. Women really do talk more than men.

In fact, women talk almost three times as much as men, with the average woman chalking up 20,000 words in a day - 13,000 more than the average man.

Women also speak more quickly, devote more brainpower to chit-chat - and actually get a buzz out of hearing their own voices, a new book suggests.

The book - written by a female psychiatrist - says that inherent differences between the male and female brain explain why women are naturally more talkative than men.

In The Female Mind, Dr Luan Brizendine says women devote more brain cells to talking than men.

And, if that wasn't enough, the simple act of talking triggers a flood of brain chemicals which give women a rush similar to that felt by heroin addicts when they get a high.

Dr Brizendine, a self-proclaimed feminist, says the differences can be traced back to the womb, where the sex hormone testosterone moulds the developing male brain.

The areas responsible for communication, emotion and memory are all pared back the unborn baby boy.

The result is that boys - and men - chat less than their female counterparts and struggle to express their emotions to the same extent.

"Women have an eight-lane superhighway for processing emotion, while men have a small country road," said Dr Brizendine, who runs a female "mood and hormone" clinic in San Francisco.

Chip wreck

Hatteras Island is famous for its shipwrecks. But Thursday locals experienced their first ever "chip-wreck".

A cargo container loaded with thousands of bags of Doritos Tortilla Chips washed ashore on the beach near Frisco and broke open.

The container apparently fell off a ship. The chips scattered for about a half a mile, and some even floated as far north as the Bonner bridge.

Arley Spake photographed the broken container. Spake works for Frito-Lay, the company that makes Doritos. His wife Janice joined him at water's edge.

"It was really weird," said Spake. (Arley) was taking pictures for Frito-Lay, we still don't know what happened. Lots of Doritos, lots of people putting them in garbage bags."

Many of the chips were sealed and still edible. Dozens of people were seen gathering the chips and taking them off the beach. Jessica Maxfield, who is doing an internship with the National Park Service, grabbed a couple of bags.

"I was doing a bird survey. The gulls love the Doritos."

The National Park Service does not like the Doritos, however; the beach is protected. The container is now at the National Park Service maintenance area.

As for the accident, it's still unclear which ship lost the cargo or to which port it was being shipped.

Wels I'll be !

When Carl Smith hooked his first catfish, it took two friends to hold him back as the 226lb (102kg), 8ft (2.4m) monster tried to turn the tables and instead drag him into the River Ebro in Spain.

“The force of the initial tug practically sent me crashing to the ground,” Mr Smith said. “Its mouth, with rows of sharp teeth, made it look like a man-eating shark.”

The battle to land the giant fish, which beat the European record by 2lb, took the school caretaker from Owestry 35 minutes. The catfish, a European wels, was then weighed, measured and held for a photograph — just in case anyone questioned this fisherman’s tale. “We christened him Jaws and released him back in the water,” said Mr Smith, pictured holding the tail.

European wels catfish are common in lakes and rivers in Spain, Italy and Greece, but generally reach a weight of 80lb to 100lb and about 3ft in length. They are reputed to eat anything which can fit in their huge mouths.

Oldie music

The Young@Heart chorus is no nursing home choir, the The Early Show correspondent reports for the Young at Heart series.

Its repertoire is familiar to most teenagers. In fact, these seniors are now singing the same songs they used to tell their kids to turn off the radio.

"Turn it down at least so your mother and I can at least talk," says Jack Schnepp, recalling what he used to say to his kids. So what do his kids say now? "They're amazed," Schnepp says, "They come and say, 'This is fantastic. I'm so proud of you.' I'm doing songs that they enjoy."

Some of the songs they sing are fun, like Outkast's mega hit, "Hey Ya." Others are a bit sad like, "Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday." The Rolling Stones never sounded like the Young@Heart chorus, and that's the thing: Their voices make you hear lyrics in a way you never have before.

Choir director Bob Cilman explains, "These guys make you really tune in to the lyrics, and you find that they can really be interesting coming out of their mouths."

At 91, singer Eileen Hall is the oldest member of the group. The youngest member is 73.

Listen HERE (they aint half bad)

Guacamole dip-shits

Peanut butter is made from peanuts, tomato paste is made from tomatoes, and guacamole is made from avocados, right?

Wrong. The guacamole sold by Kraft Foods Inc., one of the best-selling avocado dips in the nation, calls for modified food starch, hefty amounts of coconut and soybean oils and a dose of food coloring. The dip contains precious little avocado, but many customers mistake it for wholly guacamole.

On Wednesday, a Los Angeles woman sued the Northfield, Ill., food company, alleging that it committed fraud by calling its dip guacamole. Her lawyer says suits against other purveyors of "fake guacamole" will be filed soon.

The suit highlights the liberty some food companies take in labeling their products.

If consumers read the fine print, they would discover that Kraft Dips Guacamole contains less than 2 percent avocado. But few do. California avocado growers, who account for 95 percent of the U.S. avocado crop, said they didn't know that store-bought guacamole contains little of their produce.

"We have not looked at this issue, but we might follow it now that we are aware of it," said Tom Bellamore, the top lawyer at the California Avocado Commission.

Kraft and other food companies say that they don't deceive customers by skimping on the avocado. A spokeswoman for the company said most consumers understood that guacamole is part of the company's line of "flavored" dips.

"We think customers understand that it isn't made from avocado," said Claire Regan, Kraft Foods' vice president of corporate affairs. "All of the ingredients are listed on the label for consumers to reference."

Nonetheless, Kraft is relabeling the product.

Marmart present

One woman's £920 Christmas present will have an unusual flavour this year.

Caterer Wayne Withers, 38, snapped up the pictures of 10 well-known celebrities - some who people love to hate - drawn in Marmite on toast.

He bought the "Marmarts", including Victoria Beckham, Charlotte Church and James Blunt on web auction site eBay.

Mr Withers, who runs a sandwich and rolls business in New Tredegar, said he wanted to give wife Lisa "something for Christmas that nobody has got".

The father-of-four said: "Every year it's the same old pressies - perfume, knickers and bras, and chocolates for the kids.

"But this was for charity, so it killed two birds with one stone".

Merry Noel !

An Oasis fan enjoyed "the best day of his life" when Noel Gallagher popped round to his house in Cheshire to play an intimate gig. Ben Hayes, from Poynton, won a Radio 1 competition to have the star play in his front room as part of week of gigs compered by DJ Jo Whiley.

About 15 people packed into his lounge for the tiny gig - with his mother on hand making cups of tea for the crew.

"I've seen Noel playing a few times but today was so special," said Whiley.

It was the 10th Oasis gig Ben had attended, after watching his favourite band nine times in the last few years at slightly bigger venues. Gallagher played three acoustic songs - Half The World Away, The Importance of Being Idle and Don't Look Back in Anger.

Ben won the dream prize after entering a competition which ran on Radio 1. He said: "It was just absolutely amazing. It was just unreal. "He was just sat in my lounge, playing three songs. It was just the best day of my life - so far."

As well as playing the songs, Gallagher spent time in Ben's house on Friday signing his guitar, Oasis artwork and CDs.

Good job it wasn't an emergency

A London Ambulance crew was sent 200 miles to Manchester by a faulty satellite navigation system while transferring a patient to hospital.

The team were supposed to take the man from King George Hospital in Ilford to Mascalls Park Hospital in Brentwood.

But they did not realise their equipment was faulty until the reached the outskirts of Manchester.

London Ambulance said the patient was in a comfortable condition throughout the eight-hour journey.

The patient left the King George Hospital for the Mascalls Park Hospital, which is a 12 mile (19.3km) journey, in the early hours of Tuesday morning but did not arrive until the afternoon, having travelled to Manchester and back.

The spokesman said: "We believe the crew, who had not been to this particular hospital before, followed the directions given by the navigation system, without manually confirming their destination.

Jesus ! It's called Christmas for a reason !!!

ST. ALBANS, W.Va.- Christ is missing from Christmas in this small town. The community's holiday display has a manger with shepherds, a guiding star, camels and a palm tree, but no baby Jesus, Mary or Joseph.

The parks superintendent said Jesus was left out because of concerns about the separation of church and state. But Mayor Dick Callaway said it was done for purely technical reasons: "It's not easy to put a light-up representation of a baby in a small manger scene, you know."

In recent years, some communities around the country have dropped nativity scenes after the displays were challenged as unconstitutional. Some communities have tried to head off legal problems by incorporating nonreligious symbols, or symbols of more than one faith, to avoid the appearance of endorsing one religion over another.

David Cunningham, parks superintendent in this town of 11,000, initially insisted St. Albans' display was not even technically a manger scene. But the mayor disputed that and said Cunningham was unnecessarily worried about lawsuits.

"We have a manger scene," the mayor said.

Around the country, only a few skirmishes in what some conservatives have called the "War on Christmas" have been reported this year so far.

Some retailers, including Wal-Mart, have returned to greeting customers with "Merry Christmas" after coming under attack last year for saying, "Happy Holidays."

Two weeks ago, the Marine Reserves Toys for Tots program in Los Angeles overcame concerns about accepting a donation of 4,000 talking Jesus dolls that quote Bible verses by promising to make sure the dolls reach Christian children.

Some people are still scratching their heads over what happened in Chicago, where the movie studio behind "The Nativity Story" was dropped as a sponsor of a Christmas festival for fear of offending non-Christians.

In Wheeling, baby Jesus is represented in a manger scene at Olgebay Park's Winter Festival of Lights, which draws visitors from across the country.

"If anything, we get criticized for not having more examples of that type of thing," said J.C. Douglas Dalby, president of the Wheeling Park Commission.

Nude drive-thru

A teen accused of ordering from at least three fast food drive-thrus nude faces an indecent exposure charge. David Gatton, 18, of Columbia City, was found in the parking lot of a McDonald's by a sheriff's deputy after police received a call that the teen had been nude when he ordered from his car at the Arby's drive-thru, police said.

"Maybe it was a way to enjoy the last of the warm weather," joked Capt. Brian Anspach of the Columbia City Police Department.

Sgt. Mike Engle of the Whitley County Sheriff's Department passed the car Tuesday night in Columbia City, 20 miles west of Fort Wayne. Engle said he turned around to stop the car and saw that Gatton had driven into the McDonald's lot.

When Engle got to the car, Gatton was putting his clothes back on. Police said Gatton had a clothed male passenger in the car and the pair had been making the stops as part of a joke. Gatton faces a misdemeanor charge.

NY Meats

When a food safety inspector walked into a market in Queens, he noticed the store had an interesting special posted on its front window: 12 beefy armadillos. In Brooklyn, inspectors found 15 pounds of iguana meat at a West Indian market and 200 pounds of cow lungs for sale at another market. At a West African grocery in Manhattan, the store was selling smoked rodent meat from a refrigerated display case. An inspector quickly seized a couple pounds of it.

All of it was headed for the dinner table. All of it was also illegal.

Authorities say the discoveries are part of a larger trend in which markets across New York are buying meat and other foods from unregulated sources and selling them to an immigrant population accustomed to more exotic fare.

State regulators have responded by stepping up enforcement, confiscating 65 percent more food through September than they did in all of 2005.

The seizures also cast a spotlight on the eating habits of this ethnically diverse city, where everything from turtles and fish paste to frogs and duck feet make their way onto people's plates.

"At one time or another, we've probably seen about everything," said Joseph Corby, director of the state's Division of Food Safety and Inspection.

In an attempt to stamp out the activity, Corby's agency has ramped up efforts, working with the Food and Drug Administration, to prevent this illicit food from reaching store shelves.

Instead of just hitting the retailers, Corby said, his inspectors are also targeting warehouses that receive imported products - Russian, Asian and African - from where the food is distributed.

So far, it appears his campaign has been effective. In the first nine months of the year, inspectors across the state seized 1.6 million pounds of food, destroying about 81 percent of it. Last year, the state seized only 976,076 pounds of food.

Read the whole lengthy article here

U R Dmpd !

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, dubbed the country's sexiest man, broke up by text message with the girlfriend he had met on the Internet, the woman says in a magazine interview.

"Matti dumped me in a text message, where he said 'that's it'," Susan Kuronen told the magazine Me Naiset (Us Women).

Her relationship with Mr Vanhanen, a divorced 51-year-old father of two, ended a few weeks ago, but continues to make headlines as Susan, 36, pours her heart out in local media.

Mr Vanhanen, who declines to comment on the relationship, was cited as Finland's sexiest man by French President Jacques Chirac earlier this year, when Finnish tabloids were running daily front-page details of the romance.

Blind stupid !

A blind Turkish pensioner has been sentenced to a 26-day reading and writing course at his local public library after he failed to vote on time in an election for his village cooperative, his son says.

A prosecutor in the province of Kutahya in north-west Turkey sentenced Ismail Canseven, 73, to the education course after he did not show up for the election of the cooperative's board of directors in May, Isa Canseven told Reuters.

"What am I going to do in a library? I can't see out of either of my eyes, and I can't read or write anyway," Friday's edition of the Hurriyet newspaper quoted Ismail as saying.

Isa Canseven, 42, said he would appeal against the sentence served on his father.

"My father can only find the bathroom by holding on to a piece of string we've tied to the (bathroom) wall," he said.

In Turkey, people are obliged by law to vote in elections.

Puppy killer sign offensive ?

A Tennessee woman put up a controversial reminder to the person who she said ran over her dog, and some have found it offensive.

Ginger Crawford buried her 5-month-old puppy in her back yard, but she built the memorial in the front yard so every driver can see it.

"She was with me all the time and I miss her so much," she said.

Crawford said she will never forget her walk to the mailbox Nov. 16. She said she had kept her dog inside for a couple of days and hoped the walk to the mailbox might burn off some energy.

"She came out behind me like she always does and she usually stays back," Crawford said. "I happened to see her over by the fire hydrant, so I walked toward her, trying to get her to come back (toward me)."

But she said the puppy didn't listen and instead ran toward the road. That's when she said the car hit the dog.

"It flipped her, she rolled backwards and they hit her again with their back tire and threw her up here in the driveway," she said.

Crawford said that drivers often speed past her house and that she has complained about it to police, but police checked their records for the past two years and said they have no record of any speeding complaint from Crawford.

"We haven't received any calls from her specifically, requesting our assistance," said Sgt. Bobby Gibson of the Smyrna Police Department.

Crawford claimed drivers do slow down now to read her sign, and some of them find it offensive.

"If it were our dog that got outside and got killed, it would be devastating to our family, but I don't think I would be putting a sign out there saying 'Was it you?' that did that," said passing driver David Wills.

Offensive or not, Crawford said she stands by her sign and said she hopes somehow it will melt the heart of the one she said didn't even stop the day they ran over Raven.

"She was my best friend and I surely miss her. I'll always miss her," she said.

Cop tasers Python

UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- A police officer used a Taser to subdue a python that had wrapped itself around a man's arm and would not let go.

Steve Crilly, 47, was feeding a rat to the 8-foot-long albino Burmese python, which belongs to his daughter, when it when it bit his left hand and wrapped tightly around his left arm Wednesday night, Uniontown patrolman Ray Miller said.

"The snake was on his arm and was eating his hand," Miller told the Herald-Standard of Uniontown for Friday's editions. Crilly "was very calm, considering there was a good bit of blood," he said.

In an effort to free the man without permanently harming the snake, Miller said he shot the animal with his Taser, a gun that sends an electric shock through wired darts. The snake immediately went limp and released its grip.

Crilly was treated by paramedics at the scene for what Miller called "a nasty cut" on his hand. The snake was uninjured and remained at the home, Miller said. Crilly did not immediately return a message left at his home Thursday by The Associated Press.

Miller said the incident was unique, but not especially scary. "Snakes don't bother me," he said.

They know what you ate

Without their knowledge, millions of Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders in the past four years have been assigned scores generated by U.S. government computers rating the risk that the travelers are terrorists or criminals.

The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years.

The government calls the system critical to national security following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Some privacy advocates call it one of the most intrusive and risky schemes yet mounted in the name of anti-terrorism efforts.

Virtually every person entering and leaving the United States by air, sea or land is scored by the Homeland Security Department's Automated Targeting System, or ATS. The scores are based on ATS' analysis of their travel records and other data, including items such as where they are from, how they paid for tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered.

The use of the program on travelers was quietly disclosed earlier this month when the department put a notice detailing ATS in the Federal Register, a fine-print compendium of federal rules. The few civil liberties lawyers who had heard of ATS and even some law enforcement officers said they had thought it was only used to screen cargo.

The Homeland Security Department called the program "one of the most advanced targeting systems in the world" and said the nation's ability to spot criminals and other security threats "would be critically impaired without access to this data."