Diamond find

Walking along a path taken by thousands of others at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, Nicole Ruhter noticed something everyone else had missed — a tea-colored, 2.93-carat diamond.

Ruhter, 13, of Butler, Mo., said she would name her find the "Pathfinder Diamond" after pulling what she described as a broken pyramid from the ground. Her parents, grandparents, brother and two sisters had already spent the day digging in two other fields before heading down the path just after 7 p.m. Tuesday.

"We were walking through the path and I just walked and saw this little shine," said Ruhter, who has just finished the seventh-grade. "We wrapped it up in a little dollar bill and took it back and showed them."

Ruhter said both park rangers and her vacationing family got excited about the diamond, found along a service road. So far this year, visitors to the park have found 332 diamonds, three of them Tuesday alone, said Bill Henderson, assistant park superintendent.

While the park does not do appraisals, Henderson said experts appraised a 4-carat diamond found previously in the park between $15,000 to $60,000. Henderson said Ruhter's diamond did have chips and several imperfections.

Only in Ireland ....

A Northern Ireland police station which was targeted by burglars had been left with its windows open and its alarm switched off, it has emerged. The station in Ballynahinch, County Down, was broken into last month.

Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland told the Policing Board officers went on patrol and forgot to lock up properly. He said that a criminal and disciplinary investigation was under way.

ACC McCausland said the message for police was the same as every other householder - close your windows and switch on the alarm. He said that no police equipment was taken in the break-in at the station, which is currently being renovated.

There was an amount of banter at the board meeting when the break-in was discussed.

Sinn Fein assembly member Alex Maskey wondered if perhaps "the 20 unopened bottles of milk" on the doorstep had tipped off the robbers.

South Down DUP assembly member Jim Wells commended the police for their honesty over the matter.

"Now that I've heard the explanation I must admire the police as they have been totally honest - I would applaud them for that, but what steps are going to be taken to make sure something like this doesn't happen again?" he told the News Letter.

"We were lucky. Whoever broke in was not a hardened criminal or terrorist."

He said that if weapons or sesitive documents had fallen into the "wrong hands" there could have been serious repercussions.

Gas

Cane toad golf stubby

A Queensland council has been condemned by the RSPCA for encouraging its residents to splatter cane toads with golf clubs.

Townsville City Council produced several hundred beer stubby holders carrying slogans promoting local activities including "cane toad golf", as part of a recently launched advertising campaign.

The $270,000 campaign is designed to showcase "all the great things about Townsville and the people who live here", a council spokeswoman said.

Other slogans on the beer coolers include "cold beer on a hot summer's day" and "bagging a barra" (barramundi).

RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty said the merchandise encourages animal cruelty. "We just think it's sending the wrong message, particularly to young people," Mr Beatty told AAP. "We just don't want to encourage anyone to go hitting any animal, even if it is a cane toad, with a golf club, a baseball bat, a cricket bat or any other form of blunt instrument."

Not only is clubbing toads inhumane, Mr Beatty said, it is also an ineffective way of eradicating the pests. "Nine times out of 10 the toad gets up and hops away," he said. "We're not being wowsers about it, it's just irresponsible."

Townsville mayor Tony Mooney said the council will look at removing the cane toad golf stubby holders from the campaign if offence is taken.

"This is a campaign that promotes the good things about Townsville and our residents," he said. "I certainly don't want to see anything that might offend people and steps will be taken to sort it out." The slogans were always intended to be humorous, Cr Mooney said. "Let's not get too politically correct," he said.

Museum thief fingered

A German thief got nabbed after he tore off his finger during a bungled break-in - then went back to retrieve it.

After setting off the alarm at Berlin's Technical Museum late on Tuesday, the 35-year-old man escaped from two security guards, clambered up a three-metre fence, but got snagged by a ring on the middle finger of his right hand.

The man managed to free himself, but only after tearing off the finger.

The security guards arrested him when he went back to recover the severed digit and ask for medical aid.

"His comment afterwards was 'Breaking and entering doesn't pay,'" said a spokeswoman for local police.

Doctors were unable to reattach the man's finger.

Take note(s)

A Chinese couple in their 80s who only communicate via terse notes are embroiled in a courtroom battle over control of their household finances.

Despite being married for more than 50 years, the couple's relationship has never been good and they have not spoken to each other for several years. Now Mrs Yang is demanding her husband give her an allowance so she can enjoy greater independence from him. He said that if he does that, she will have to pay half the bills.

Mrs Yang told the court the couple were married in 1954 after falling in love, but she soon realised her husband had ''too many faults'', the Beijing News reported.

They did not get divorced because at that time it was socially unacceptable, and even now, divorce is a taboo among the older generation.
Her husband, Mr Tao, said things got particularly bad in 1989, a time when the couple would start arguing after just a few words with each other. Over the last few years a full-scale "cold war" has broken out between the couple and now they only communicate using notes, he said.

Although they continue to live in the same Beijing home, they live separate lives - even dividing up the groceries and cooking their own meals.

Mrs Yang, 80, has never worked and so has no income of her own. She told the court that if she wants something she leaves her husband a note saying such things as "no toothpaste", which he then buys. Mrs Yang, who arrived at court separately from her husband, is demanding he give her a 450 yuan ($59) monthly allowance out of his 1,000 ($130) pension.

The court, in Beijing's Chaoyang District, is due to make a ruling next week.

I spilt my soda !

A wheelchair user has been taken for a high-speed ride along a US highway after his handlebars became tangled up in the front grille of a lorry.

The back of the 21-year-old man's wheelchair was scooped up as he passed in front of a lorry leaving a petrol station, Michigan state police said. The truck driver drove off, completely unaware that he had a new passenger.

Passing motorists told police, who found the man unhurt - but still attached to the front of the truck. He had been kept in his wheelchair by a seatbelt.

Police in the town of Paw Paw, Michigan, said the unidentified man told them "it was quite a ride", but complained only that he had spilled his soda.

The truck reached speeds of 50mph as it drove down the Red Arrow Highway. After several miles the driver pulled over at the depot of a trucking company where police then told him about the man on his front end.

He refused to believe there was a man in a wheelchair stuck to the front of his truck until he saw it for himself, police said.

Mugabe unDoctored

President Mugabe of Zimbabwe has become the first international figure to be stripped of an honorary degree by a British university.

The Edinburgh University Senate decided at a special meeting yesterday to withdraw the degree it awarded to Mr Mugabe in 1984 for services to education in Africa. A letter will be written to him, asking that the degree be returned.

The decision was taken after the university set up an academic panel to look at events between 1982 and 1984 in Matabeleland, where 20,000 people are thought to have died. The university has said that it knew nothing of the killings at the time of the award.

Backward stories for the truth

A cunning new method of dragging the truth from criminals may be on the horizon, thanks to research by university psychologists.

Researchers from the University of Portsmouth claim that the best way to spot a lie is to make the suspect repeat his or her version of events in reverse order.

In a £136,000 project, the researchers worked on the theory that it takes more effort to make up a story than it does to tell the truth. A subject asked to repeat a concocted series of events in reverse order would be under too much of a strain, they claimed, and would make mistakes.

Detectives use many psychological tricks to trip up liars. These betray obvious signals from shifting uncomfortably in a seat, through stumbling over words to failing to make eye contact.

Another interview strategy used, the baseline method, requires investigators to note the way a suspect reacts to small talk before an interview compared with how he reacts to penetrating questions.

Finally there is the behavioural analysis strategy (BAI), in which interviewers compare the body language of liars and those telling the truth to set a list of questions.

Researchers asked 290 police officers to examine the interviews of 255 students who were given true and false details to use in their answers.

More Logo trouble

As if the crap the London 2012 Olympic Organizing Committee received over this week's release of its much-maligned logo weren't enough, now eight reported cases of epileptic seizures caused by the logo's supporting video have caused the organization to remove the video from it's website.

Epilepsy photo sensitivity expert Graham Harding explained, "What it appears has happened is that the flash rate of the diving sequence contravenes the Ofcom guidelines."

Bookmakers have given the logo 10-1 odds it will be replaced by year's end.

Oldest paperboy

At 5:30 in the morning, 102-year-old Homer Plackmeyer can't just roll over in bed and sleep in.

The residents on the second floor of Building D at Parkside Meadows Retirement Community in St. Charles depend on him. They want their newspaper, and he's their paperboy.

Actually, he doesn't have to deliver the papers. He volunteers. When he moved to Parkside nearly three years ago, a woman delivered them, and he didn't think that was right, he said.

"Those ladies can't handle those papers," he said. "Most all of them, they're not kids anymore." So he gladly took over.Still, he does have delivery experience on his résumé. About 90 years ago, when he was 12, he handed out fliers advertising silent movies playing at the St. Charles Opera House.

He walked his route then, and he walks it now. In the mornings, he usually takes his walker from his second-floor apartment to the lobby on the first floor. That's where the newspaper carrier leaves copies of the Post-Dispatch on a table.

The carrier labels them with room numbers and Plackmeyer stacks them up according to the order of the rooms. He piles the papers in a little shopping cart, takes the elevator upstairs and rolls his way down the halls placing the newspaper in front of the residents' doors.

In 15 to 20 minutes, he delivers 25 to 30 papers.

He doesn't deliver to the first floor because those residents walk to the lobby to do their daily "check-in" anyway. He figures he'll save the second-floor residents the trip and they can check in a bit later.

Orville Ermiling, 90, lives down the hall from Plackmeyer. They last knew each other about 50 years ago when Ermiling worked as a milkman in St. Charles. He appreciates not having to walk downstairs to get his paper.

"We're kind of old for that," he said. "He's just so spry. He's great."

As for Plackmeyer's own reading habits, he looks at the sports section first. He played semi-pro baseball in St. Charles as a young man and is a big Cardinals fan.

He always throws away the auto section. He stopped driving two years ago. "I'm not going to buy another car," he says.

Plackmeyer will turn 103 on Oct. 28. His wife, Helen, died in 1990. His daughter, Diana Thomas of Chesterfield, calls every day and visits every week. His son, Jerry, died about 20 years ago at age 48. He has five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Plackmeyer graduated from St. Charles High School in 1922, and believes he's outlived all the members of his class. He's outlived his six brothers and sisters, too. That's tough, he says, but he tries to stay busy and enjoy himself.

"I wonder myself what I'm doing here," he says. "I make do. I'm not a complainer. If you do, you just make yourself miserable and everyone around you."

How many ?

5,000 yr old murder solved

Swiss and Italian scientists say they have solved the mystery surrounding the death of the prehistoric hunter frozen in a glacier for more than 5,000 years. They say the man known as Oetzi bled to death after being struck in the back by an arrow.

According to the researchers, the arrow tore a hole in an artery beneath his left collarbone, leading to massive loss of blood and shock and causing Oetzi to suffer a heart attack.

Their findings were published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Oetzi became a celebrity after his well-preserved body was accidentally discovered by hikers in 1991 on a glacier more than 3,000 metres above sea level on the border between Austria and Italy.

Archeologists believe Oetzi may have been killed in a skirmish with a rival tribe. The researchers used newly developed medical scanners to examine the frozen corpse.
Even today, the chances of surviving such an injury long enough to receive hospital treatment are only 40 perjavascript:void(0)
Publish Post cent, according to the article.

The fact that the arrow's shaft was pulled out before his death may have worsened the injury, said Frank Ruehli of the University of Zurich, who carried out the research with scientists from Bolzano, Italy, where the iceman's body is preserved.

The use of high-resolution computer tomography - normally used to diagnose living patients - allowed the researchers to create three-dimensional images of Oetzi without having to use surgical procedures that would have damaged the body.

"Five years ago this would definitely have been more difficult," Ruehli said.

Dipshit Man sues for having an erection in the morning

A man has sued the maker of the health drink Boost Plus, claiming the vitamin-enriched beverage gave him an erection that would not subside and caused him to be hospitalized.

The lawsuit filed by Christopher "Woody" Woods of New York said he bought the nutrition beverage made by the pharmaceutical company Novartis AG (NVS) at a drugstore on June 5, 2004, and drank it.

Woods' court papers say he woke up the next morning "with an erection that would not subside" and sought treatment that day for the condition, called severe priapism.

They say Woods, 29, underwent surgery for implantation of a Winter shunt, which moves blood from one area to another.

The lawsuit, filed late Monday, says Woods later had problems that required a hospital visit and penile artery embolization, a way of closing blood vessels. Closing off some blood flow prevents engorgement and lessens the likelihood of an erection.

Woods' lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names Novartis Consumer Health Inc. as a defendant. A spokeswoman for the company, Brandi Robinson, said Tuesday the company was aware of the lawsuit but does not comment on pending litigation.

Woods' lawyer did not return telephone calls for comment Tuesday.

Novartis' Boost Plus Web site describes the drink as "a great tasting, high calorie, nutritionally complete oral supplement for people who require extra energy and protein in a limited volume," in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.

"Staring" at police dog charges dropped

CHELSEA, Vermont - A prosecutor has dropped charges against a woman who was arrested for staring at and making faces at a police dog. "Prosecuting a woman for 'staring' at a police dog is absurd," said her lawyer. "People are allowed to make faces at police dogs and officers to express their disapproval. It's constitutional expression," said public defender Kelly Green, who represented Jayna Hutchinson.

Hutchinson, 33, of Lebanon, N.H., was charged with cruelty to a police animal and resisting arrest after a July 31 incident in West Fairlee in which police were called to a market to investigate a report of a brawl. They were approached by Hutchinson, who told one officer she had been assaulted the day before by one of the men involved.

She asked Vermont State Police Sgt. Todd Protzman to take her statement but he refused, telling her she smelled like alcohol and was drunk but that he would take her statement at another time.

After a heated exchange, she approached Protzman's cruiser, where his dog Max was waiting, putting her face within inches of the window and "staring at him in a taunting/harassing manner," Protzman wrote in an affidavit.

"While the defendant taunted my canine, Max was focused on the defendant and the perceived threat she presented to him," the affidavit said. "He was no longer focused on me and the other officers at the scene."

Officers arrested Hutchinson, adding the resisting arrest charge because she pulled her arms and upper body away during the arrest. She registered 0.21 percent blood-alcohol content on a breath test, more than twice the legal limit for drivers in Vermont.

On Tuesday, two days before Hutchinson was to go to trial, Orange County State's Attorney Will Porter decided to drop the charges, after viewing a videotape of the incident over the weekend.

"I think it was going to be difficult to prove her conduct changed the dog's behavior," Porter said. "Most of the time (in harassment cases) people would come tell the court what it felt like. Dogs can't do that."

Without the cruelty charge, jurors would be unlikely to convict her on the resisting arrest, Porter said.

Man amputates leg to save himself

IOWA HILL, California - Residents are pulling for a neighbor who was forced to amputate his left leg below the knee using pocket knives after a tree fell on him, pinning him for about 11 hours.

Al Hill, 66, was cutting trees on a property near the Big Dipper Mine last Friday when a tree fell on his leg and trapped him, authorities said. Alone in the woods and in an area where cellular phone service is spotty or nonexistent, Hill was forced to take the extreme measure to save himself.

Eventually, a neighbor in the area heard Hill's cries for help. Eric Bookey declined to talk about the events. "Only me, Al and God were there that day," he said.

Bookey had to go nearly two miles to get a cellular signal and make an emergency call, which came in to the all-volunteer fire department about 7:30 p.m., Iowa Hill Fire Chief Luana Dowling told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Bookey and a neighbor loaded Hill into a truck and took him to an emergency landing site in town, where a helicopter met them and took him to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, where he underwent amputation surgery, Dowling said.

She said it was hard to believe Hill didn't go into shock. "He's a pretty remarkable person," Dowling said.

News of Hill's ordeal has captivated this tiny town about 60 miles northeast of Sacramento, where there is no electricity and few services for the roughly 200 residents.

"I was in the store when they called the fire department," said Cathy Morgan, who works in Iowa Hill's one-room schoolhouse. "We were real worried because he has diabetes."

Betty "Charlie" Gilcrest lives near the accident site but said she didn't hear Hill's cries for help. She said she has visited him in the hospital, where he was alert and in good spirits. "We're all glad Eric was there," she said.

A playground on every street

The Culture Minister has called for a playground on every street - as a poll showed parents are too scared to let their children out alone. David Lammy revealed he wants a change in urban planning to create safe places for youngsters to play.

He said: "For every acre of land occupied by playgrounds in England there are more than 80 acres for golf courses.

"Many town centres are cut off by ring roads, and on residential streets children are being dwarfed by cars that are getting bigger and bigger. Among the hustle and bustle of towns and cities we need to engender 'village' communities where children are looked after in the widest sense. This must start with somewhere for our children - all our children - to play." Mr Lammy voiced his concerns as The Children's Society revealed that 43 per cent of adults think children should not be allowed out with friends until they are 14.

Parents fear child snatchers and road accidents and say kids have nowhere safe to play. More than a fifth of over-60s said children should be over 16 before going out on their own.

The report also warned that youngsters have fewer friends than a generation ago - which could lead to depression and anti-social behaviour. Bob Reitemeier, of The Children's Society, said: "We want freedom for our children but we are becoming frightened to let them out. "Spending time with friends is fundamental to children's wellbeing and development."

Full moon = more crime

MORE police officers are to be put on duty during full moons after a possible link was found between violent crime and the lunar cycle. Inspector Andy Parr discovered the connection while studying different factors that affect people's behaviour.

He said: "I compared a graph of full moons and a graph of last year's violent crimes and there is a trend. Even if only one extra officer is put on the shift it can help prevent violent crime.

"Drinkers also tended to be more aggressive and unhelpful during the full moon."

He identified full moons and paydays as key dates when aggression rises in pubs and clubs. Inspector Parr of Sussex Police has ordered more officers to patrol Brighton's streets when the moon is full.

A police spokeswoman said: "This is not scientifically proven but there is a correlation."

Psychologist Dr Keith Ashcroft said: "There is no scientific proof to link the lunar cycle with how people act. Studies show a rise in admissions to psychiatric hospitals, but there's no reason to explain it."

Criminologist Dr Paul Kiff, of the University of East London, said more light during a full moon could explain the link.

He added: "There is more chance to commit crimes such as muggings, rapes and car thefts. It is interesting there doesn't seem to be a rise in burglaries because they rely on darkness. And there is probably more violence on paydays simply because people have more money to spend and get more drunk."

But other experts are convinced there is a lunar link. One theory is that the water content in the human body means it is affected by lunar gravity just like the sea.

A study at Armley jail in Leeds in 1998 found a rise in violence either side of a full moon.

Animal ringtones catch leopards

Forest guards in western India are using mobile phones with ringtones of cows mooing, goats bleating and roosters crowing to attract leopards that have wandered into human settlements, officials said on Monday.

The wild cats in the state of Gujarat often roam into villages near forests in search of food, say officials, adding that this results in attacks on people.

But rather than use methods such as live bait like goats tied to trees to lure the leopards, which then fall into large pits dug by guards, officials say they have found a safer method to trap the cats.

"The moos of a cow, bleating of a goat from the phone has proved effective to trap leopards," said D Vasani, a senior forest official in Gujarat. "This trick works."

Vasani said forest guards have downloaded the sounds of over a dozen animals as ringtones on their mobiles which they attach to speakers and fix behind a cage.

Mont Rouge ?

French police have arrested a Danish artist who planned to paint the peak of Mont Blanc red in a bid to raise awareness of environmental issues.

Marco Evaristti, 43, originally from Chile, was picked up by police after having used a raspberry-based biodegradable dye on the top of the famous Alpine peak.

Police spokesman Olivier Kim says the artist might be charged with damaging the environment on a listed site, namely Mont Blanc itself.

Evaristti had announced on Monday that he wanted to colour the peak of Mont Blanc - the highest mountain in western Europe - and establish a sovereign "Pink State" there to raise awareness for environmental issues.

"As France has taken the right to conduct nuclear testing in French Polynesia thousands of kilometres away, it would be a clear case of double-standards if they now prevented me from occupying a small piece of land for peaceful purposes," he said.

Snow-capped Mont Blanc rises to 4,808 metres in the French Alps.

The mayor of Chamonix, Michel Charlet has described plans to paint the summit of Mont-Blanc red as “stupid and illegal”.

Mohammed to become Britain's most popular name

Mohammed will likely become the most popular name for baby boys in Britain by the end of the year, The Times newspaper says.

Though official records from the Office for National Statistics list the spelling Mohammed 23rd in its yearly analysis of the top 3,000 names given to children, when all the different spellings of the name are taken into account it ranks second, only behind Jack, according to the paper.

There are various different spellings of the name because when it is transliterated into English from Arabic, families spell it as closely to their own pronunciations as possible.

In total, 5,991 baby boys were given some version of the name Mohammed, with 6,928 baby boys named Jack.

Thomas was third with 5,921 names, with Joshua and Oliver rounding out the top five.

According to The Times, if the growth of the name Mohammed continues - it rose by 12 per cent last year - the name will take the top spot by the end of this year.

Perv picks on wrong house

A Japanese man who tried to steal underwear belonging to a policeman's daughter had some explaining to do when the officer caught him red-handed dressed in a schoolgirl's uniform.

Junichi Uchikura, 24, had intruded into a yard after spotting a pair of the girl's underwear, police say. But as it turned out, the underwear belonged to the daughter of a police officer.

Alerted by his wife, the police officer chased down Uchikura and was startled to find that the thief was dressed in a schoolgirl's uniform.

Left with little way to explain himself, Uchikura confessed he had snatched the uniform from another house in the south-west city of Kagoshima immediately before intruding into the policeman's home.

"He is saying he stole the uniform and tried to get the underwear to satisfy his sexual desire," a local police spokesman said.

Pool heated by cider

Heat produced by a Somerset cider factory chilling its drinks products is being used to keep a swimming pool warm. A system has been built to take recycled heat from the Brothers Drinks factory in Shepton Mallet to the town's outdoor swimming pool 30m away.

The heat is harnessed and warms the water as it passes through pipes before being returned to the pool. The process has led to an increase in the temperature of the lido water of more than 10 degrees celcius.

"Not only does it help the council and taxpayers save money through heating bills, but it is also a very environmentally-friendly way of re-using excess heat," said councillor Ron Forrest of Mendip District Council.

The project is the latest part of a £500,000 improvement programme at Shepton's lido, which has already seen the installation of a new children's play area, green area and a revamp of the changing rooms and pool.

Tree Goats

Judge raises settlement

Chicago - A Cook County judge yesterday awarded what could be the largest divorce verdict in U.S. history, ruling that energy industry magnate Michael Polsky must pay his wife, Maya Polsky, $184 million.

Michael Polsky's lawyers had asked Judge William Boyd to reconsider his initial judgment last year and reduce the award.

Instead, Boyd raised the amount that Maya Polsky, 55, will get in the divorce — from the original $176 million to $184 million, according to her attorney, Howard Rosenfeld.

Rosenfeld said he knows of no other verdict this big in U.S. divorce courts.

The couple were married for 31 years.

Mystery skeleton

Marine scientists in Canada and abroad are puzzled by bizarre photographs that appear to show the skeleton of a large mammal jutting out of an iceberg that recently drifted past Newfoundland's east coast.

The six pictures show what looks like a brown rib cage and spinal column, slightly bent, sticking out of a crust of ice.

But researchers throughout Canada, Greenland and Norway are unable to determine the origin of the skeleton, said Garry Stenson, a marine mammal scientist with the federal Fisheries Department.

"It's definitely unusual," Stenson said Monday. "It's not something that I've encountered before."

His colleagues have been debating whether the carcass belongs to a bearded seal, a walrus or a beluga whale. But without the actual specimen in his hands, Stenson said he can't resolve the mystery.

"It would be really nice to get a copy, a sample, a hold of it, but at this point we're not quite sure what it is," he said.

The photos were taken near Newtown, in Bonavista Bay, by Eli and Donna Norris on the weekend of May 26, said Ruth Knee, a friend who forwarded them to the Fisheries Department in hopes of identifying the bones.

The Norris family couldn't be reached for comment Monday.

Ship hijacked as French watch

SOMALI pirates hijacked a small Danish-flag general cargo ship last Saturday some 114 miles off the coast and sailed it towards Hobbio, north of Mogadishu, where there is now a small fleet of hijacked vessels. According to reports a French warship arrived on the scene as the Danica White entered Somali waters but refused requests from the ship's manager, H Folmer, to intervene within territorial waters.

The 1,616 dwt ship was on passage from Sharjah to Mombasa with five crew on board. There are also three fishing vessels being held at Hobbio. It is understood negotiations for their release are underway. There are unconfirmed rumours that a crew member from one of the fishing vessels may have been killed.

The ICC International Maritime Bureau has reiterated warnings not to sail anywhere near French ships or the Somali coast and to take anti-piracy measures while in the Northern Indian Ocean and the approaches to the Red Sea.

Off the hook

A Jack Russell has been fed a diet of banana sandwiches to dislodge a fish hook it swallowed from its stomach.

Candy went fishing with her owner Elwyn Thomas but as he cast-off she jumped up taking the bait hook, line and sinker.

She was rushed to vet Richard Gibson in Llanelli and an x-ray showed the two inch (5cm) steel hook stuck inside her.

Rather than operate he prescribed a diet of banana sandwiches to let nature take its course and two days later the problem was solved.

Mr Gibson said fortunately the line snapped close to the hook, so 10-year-old Candy swallowed very little of the chord.

"Dogs swallow all sorts of things - two days before we had one that had swallowed a needle and thread," he said. "In the majority of cases surgical intervention is not needed." He said it was often better to feed them on a soft high fibre diet. "Banana sandwiches come very high up on the list," added Mr Gibson.

Mr Thomas's wife Sylvia told the South Wales Evening Post: "We really panicked and thought that the fish hook would have damaged her insides and that she would need an operation.

"After an x-ray the vet advised us to let nature take its course, and sure enough, two days later Candy passed it.

"She proudly brought it to the back door to show us."

Keg hike

Buying a keg for your next party is a little more expensive. Large breweries have complained about losing thousands of beer kegs a year in Michigan because retail beer customers have been selling off the stainless steel barrels at scrap yards rather than returning them to stores to get their $10 deposit back.

As a result, state alcohol officials have boosted the deposit from $10 to $30, The Bay City Times reported Sunday.

For scrap-metal thieves, anything is fair game - siding, gutters, spools of electric cable, pipes, even beer kegs. Some of the more brazen ones raid salvage yards, then sell the stolen metal back to the businesses.

Thefts of copper wire, auto parts and aluminum siding let crooks tap the market for scrap metal, where some items brought record amounts per pound in May, said Tim Neal, materials manager at a Bay City scrap yard.

"Copper prices peaked out about a month ago at more than $3 a pound," Neal said. Stainless steel was worth about 25 cents a pound late in 2005, but fetched about $1.75 per pound in early May, he said.

It costs a beer manufacturer about $152 to buy a new half-barrel when one disappears, according to Ken Wozniak of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. He said a Michigan brewing company asked the commission last year to raise the $10 deposit to $90 per keg.

"The Commission thought that request was a little steep," Wozniak said. "The purpose of the increase in the barrel deposit to $30 was to ensure the return of the keg, not necessarily to cover the (beer manufacturer's) cost of the keg."

Keg Specifications for U.S. 1/2 Barrel
Full Keg Weight ----------------------160.5 Pounds
Empty Keg Weight ------------------29.7 Pounds
Beer Weight ---------------------------130.8 Pounds

Let's hope the parents don't whoop n holler

RED BLUFF, Calif. - On Friday, eight sets of twins will graduate from Red Bluff Union High School. The 16 include three sets of identical twins and five pairs of fraternal twins. Four of them are brother-and-sister combinations.

"When you look alike and you are in the same class, your teacher often gets you mixed up," said twin Brittany Arnett. The twins say they'll have an especially hard time separating to start college, careers and families.

"When you are used to always doing things together, there has always been someone with you," said twin Amanda McChesney.

Some of the twins still bristle at being dressed alike as youngsters, or getting the same gifts at Christmas. "We may share the same birthday, but we have completely different personalities," Andria Ellis said of her twin brother, Derek.

The same goes for twins Brittany and April Arnett. Brittany wants to be a veterinarian; April, a firefighter. "There are a lot of opposites, but there are also a lot of similarities," said Brittany.

Smoke on the water record

KANSAS CITY, Kansas - More than 1,680 guitar players turned out, tuned up and took part in what organizers say was a world record rendition of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" - a song that was the first many of them ever learned.

Some came from as far away as California and Germany on Sunday to take part in a Kansas City radio station's effort to break a Guinness world record for the most people playing the same song simultaneously. The record had been 1,323 people playing the same song in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994.

"It was cool to see little kids playing, people who had been playing for their whole lives, like older people, and then I'm sure there were people like me who just picked up the song a couple days before," said Autumn McPherson, of Winfield, a senior at the University of Kansas.

Preliminary numbers show 1,683 people played the popular early '70s guitar riff on Sunday at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.

"I thought it was going to be kind of cheesy," said Hannah Koch, of Prairie Village, who came clad in an elf costume. "But after I got here, I got caught up in the excitement of it."

Tanna Guthrie, a morning show host for KYYS (99.7 FM), came up with the idea for the record attempt. She said her station will send participant sign-up lists, photos, videos and copies of media coverage to Guinness seeking official recognition of a record.

Guthrie said she chose "Smoke on the Water," a track off Deep Purple's "Machine Head" album, because it's one of the first songs many guitarists learn. "You never know if you can pull something like this off," she said.

Confused? You will be soon !

Welsh language channel S4C is to broadcast a current affairs programme with Polish subtitles.

O Flaen Dy Lygaid (Before Your Eyes), produced by the BBC and broadcast on Tuesday, is thought to be the first UK TV show to use subtitles in Polish.

The documentary will focus on Poles who moved to Wales decades before thousands settled after their nation joined the European Union in 2004.

S4C said the subtitles were a one-off and it had no plans to do it regularly.

The arrival of so many Poles in the UK has led to other initiatives such as Wales' first Polish support centre, which opened in Llanelli last year.

In north Wales, an estimated 10,000 Poles live in Wrexham alone, which has prompted the region's police force to recruit Polish-speaking officers.

Art Award?

Personally I think I've seen better from elementary schools!A drawing which depicts Tony and Cherie Blair naked on the steps of 10 Downing Street is the centrepiece of the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition. Artist and sculptor Michael Sandle, 71, conceived the three-panel picture, Iraq Triptych, as a protest against the war.

"I suddenly felt overcome with anger at the way Blair has messed up," he told the Guardian newspaper.

The Summer Exhibition, now in its 239th year, is billed as the world's largest display of contemporary art.

Light is the overall theme of this year's exhibition, which opens to the public on 11 June. Sandle's Iraq Triptych will hang in Gallery V, and has been awarded the exhibition's Hugh Casson prize for drawing. The work, in charcoal and chalk, is based on medieval paintings of Adam and Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden. Side panels show Iraqi civilians being abused by British troops.

When coaches go nuts !

Phillip Wellman went from minor league baseball coach to video star after his tirade Friday night. The Mississippi Braves' manager was ejected from his team's 7-6 loss to Chattanooga.

Wellman's tantrum included throwing his hat, yanking up third base and tossing it into the outfield. He also crawled through the infield to the pitcher's mound, where he took the resin bag and threw it at the umpire like it was a grenade.

He later said he expects to be fined for his actions.

Three Braves players were also suspended for their own actions during the game, including pitcher Kelvin Villa, who was suspected of applying a foreign substance to the ball.

"There were some issues that needed to be addressed," Wellman told The Clarion-Ledger. "There were several things going on during the game, and when some of your players are getting the short end, there comes a time when you've got to stand up."

London Olympic Logo unveiled

THE dramatic new logo for the 2012 Olympics was unveiled today - in a series of very bright shades of pink, blue, green and orange as a modern take on the Olympic colours.

“It has a movement to it and it will evolve and change,” a London 2012 spokeswoman said of the jagged emblem, which is based on the digits 2012. The word “London” and the all-important Olympic rings are included in the first two digits.

Organisers hope the brand, which must be immediately recognisable worldwide, will boost its marketing push to raise £2 billion to stage the Games and its ambition that London 2012 will be “Everyone’s Games”.

Personally, I think it's ugly.

Your benches are too low !

Park benches across the country will have to be replaced at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds - because they are too low. Under new health and safety laws, benches must be more than 17.75in high so the elderly and disabled can get off them easily.

The new rules came to light after Bramcote Crematorium in Nottinghamshire was told by officials from the local Broxtowe council to replace 40 memorial benches costing £400 each. An inspector found that the benches were 14.75in high - 3in lower than the "allowed minimum" height and 5in lower than the "optimum" height.

The crematorium has also been ordered to pay a further £200,000 for lighting, because, under the same legislation, the new benches must be lit at night.

Kevin Browne, the crematorium's manager, said: "The inspector went around with a tape measure measuring everything for compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.

"Apparently, it means that the buttocks of infirm people are below the point at which they can easily return to a standing position, and 72 per cent of our visitors are elderly. But we also have to pay to put the new benches on an elevated slab, clear enough space at the side to give wheelchair access and make sure all the benches across our 18-acre site are properly lit. This will have staggering financial implications for us - about £200,000 - and we have to carry it out within two years. It is very difficult to strike a balance between our responsibility to the bereaved and the other obligations placed on us."

The order has led to the benches - many of which were paid for by bereaved families in memory of their loved ones - being removed.

Jayne Allen, whose husband Phillip died suddenly five years ago aged 48, paid £400 for a bench bearing a plaque with her husband's name. She has now been told that, because of the new regulations, the bench is being returned to her and the plaque moved to a replacement bench.

"It is all very undignified and quite insulting,' said Mrs Allen. "I also think it shows little respect for the dead. I have told them I want my plaque returned on the bench. There's no way I want it stuck on a new bench alongside other plaques of people I don't know."

I want to be a fireman when I grow up

It's not hard to figure out what James King wanted to be when he grew up.

Authorities this week fined the 27-year-old Chesapeake man a hundred dollars for impersonating a firefighter after police say he responded to several emergency calls in full firefighter's attire, boots, helmet and all.

Chesapeake Fire Marshal officers arrested King March 20. A few days earlier, fire officials say they saw King at a wreck along Interstate 64. But nobody knew him.
An investigation later turned up a helmet, boots, gloves, pants and a coat in his car, in addition to warning lights and an electronic siren.

It's unclear where he got the supplies. King also received a 60-day suspended jail sentence and had to pay court costs.

It's a misdemeanor in Virginia to impersonate any certified emergency medical services personnel, firefighters, forest wardens or other fire authorities.

It carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a 25-hundred
dollar fine.

Cow's pajamas run up a flagpole

CHESAPEAKE, Va. - Chesapeake police are asking the community to keep an eye out for a cow statue stolen from a billboard _ and the person who ran the polka-dot pajamas the animal was wearing up the flagpole at an area restaurant.

You read that right: A cow was stolen wearing polka-dot jammies.

Authorities said on April 9 they received a call that a Fiberglas Chick-fil-A statue formerly attached to a billboard was in the middle of the highway. The billboard, reading "Shav Showr Eat Chikin," is part of an advertising campaign by the Chick-fil-A franchise in which playful cows encourage diners to eat chicken instead of beef.

Chesapeake Police spokeswoman Christi Golden said when Virginia Department of Transportation workers came to retrieve the cow the next day, it was gone.

Meanwhile, the owner of a nearby Chick-fil-A arrived at the franchise to find part of a very large set of pajamas waving from the flag pole.

"At the time, we didn't put two and two together," said Amanda Braun, area marketing director for Chick-fil-A.

The thief faces felony charges for the statue, worth more than $3,000.

It's the second time in less than two years the cow has been removed from the billboard, Braun said.

Police are investigating.

Mistaken identity

Sears corporate officials have apologized to two police officers who were told to leave the retailer's store at a Des Moines mall because their uniforms distracted the store's security guards.

Officers Richard Glade and David Coy said they were kicked out of the Sears store in Merle Hay Mall in separate incidents this month.

"They told me that while I was in the store, I'd probably interfere with thefts they were monitoring," Coy said. "I said, 'Well, that's great.' She said, 'No, it's not,' and that they paid people to monitor that activity."

Kimberly Freely, a Sears spokeswoman at the company's headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill., described the episode as a case of mistaken identity.

"Our store management was attempting to address an ongoing issue of excessive socialization between mall security officers and store associates, which had been hampering associates' productivity," Freely said in a statement. "In no way was this an attempt to prevent on- or off-duty officers from shopping at our store."

Glade said he joined his wife at the store to buy a dishwasher when he was kicked out Monday. Glade said he asked for permission to take his morning break and went to Sears to help his wife shop.

"I don't think I was in the store for three minutes when I was asked to leave," he said.

"The guy was grinning the whole time he was asking me to leave. He said I was a deterrent to the store. Then he threw me out."

The Glades decided to buy the dishwasher elsewhere.

Tunick again

Dozens of women posed naked on their bicycles on a bridge over one of Amsterdam's historic canals Sunday — a unique sight even in a city famed for its relaxed attitude toward nudity and sex.

They were among 2,000 men and women who participated in a series of four nude group photos in the city in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick.

The first and largest composition was in a decidedly prosaic location: a parking garage on the outer ring of the city.

But what the location lacked in romance, it made up for in style. Participants lined the railings of the garage's twin circular towers, creating a pattern of multicolor stripes against the white building and an overcast sky.

The women on bikes were selected from the larger group and posed with their chins pointed triumphantly upward toward the sky.

Other compositions included a group of men posing together near the parking garage and a mixed group of men and women on another bridge.

Trucking idiot !

NEW YORK - A truck driver whose rig was 15 centimetres too tall for the Lincoln Tunnel drove its entire 1.5 mile length, peeling the trailer's roof completely and ripping off decorative ceiling tiles.

Flashing signs and officers using a loudspeaker had warned the driver, and it was unclear why he didn't heed them, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the tunnel.

"He misjudged the height of the tunnel, and once he was inside it he didn't realize the damage he was doing," said Roy Guzman, the safety director of the trucker's employer, U.S.A. Logistics Carriers of McAllen, Texas.

The driver, from Texas, was charged with nine misdemeanour moving violations.

The central tube of three in the tunnel heading into Manhattan was closed for about 90 minutes after the accident early Thursday, but reopened just before the morning rush hour.

On the rare occasions when other trucks have scraped the tunnel's ceiling, the drivers have stopped, Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said. Police then let air out of the trucks' tires, so the rigs can be backed out.

Firefighters duties include mowing lawns

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio - The mayor has ordered the city's firefighters to cut grass and trim shrubs while on duty to help the service department care for parks and other public areas.

"We have 54 firefighters, and they have a lot of downtime," Mayor Eric Brewer said Thursday. "Instead of sitting around the station, they'll be assisting us as we beautify the city."

The firefighters' union opposes the plan, arguing that noise from city lawnmowers and protective headphones worn by firefighters might prevent them from hearing their radios when an emergency call comes in.

"We're firefighters, not service workers," union vice president Rick Razek said. "It jeopardizes our citizens and will absolutely hinder our response time."

The mayor's plan calls for firefighters to travel in a fire truck to their assigned work site and to keep their firefighting gear with them so they can proceed directly to the scene of a fire if called.

The new duties are similar to other non-fire-related tasks performed by firefighters, such as checking hydrants, conducting fire inspections or visiting schools, said Ken Adams, deputy safety director of the Cleveland suburb.

A city law passed in 1944 authorizes the mayor to order special details for performing duties such as removing snow and ice from sidewalks and repairing buildings and equipment. The ordinance was enacted during a time when cities needed help with manual labor as many men served in the military overseas.

"This is simply an attempt to beef up a service that has been lacking for a number of years," Brewer said Thursday as he watched several firefighters receive training on a riding lawnmower. Actually, that looks like fun," he said. "I might get out there and cut some grass myself."

Two horse Pratts Power

CULPEPER, Va.- Two people police say were hoping to avoid drinking and driving chose instead to head home on horseback, and ended up under arrest anyway.

Culpeper police officers Lonnie Myers and Tim Chilton heard a disturbance last Thursday around midnight and found Culpeper residents Eric Kyff and Lauren Allen arguing, Sgt. Scott Jenkins said.

Kyff and Allen, who appeared to be intoxicated, wanted to "travel home several miles by horseback to avoid drinking and driving," Jenkins said.

Kyff, 39, took off along a nearby set of railroad tracks but was stopped shortly after by Chilton, police said.

The two were charged with public intoxication and taken to the county jail. The horses were held across the street in front of the police department.

The two were released from jail the next morning. Their horses were waiting for them across the road.

Pedal power Rollercoaster

Here is the future of the green amusement park: The Skycycle at Washuzan Highland Park in Okayama, a pedal-powered roller coaster.

They clearly have some dramatic topography to take advantage of here, and it looks truly frightening.

Most North American amusement parks are on pretty flat terrain but they often build artificial mountains- Demand a green ride like this on the Magic Mountain.

The side-by-side tandem pedal-powered carts have seat belts, and a cute pink basket.

When saying "I Do" spell it rihgt

When Mike Goodhall and Heidi Loader were married on a Caribbean beach in front of family and friends, it had all the makings of a dream wedding. But that dream began to fade as soon as they returned home to find the marriage was not legal - because of a simple spelling mistake.

The couple discovered that a clerk in the Dominican Republic had misspelt Mr Goodhall's surname as Goodhael on the wedding certificate, rendering the union null and void.

Mr Goodhall returned the document to Thomas Cook, which organised the wedding, after the travel company offered to sort out the problem and get it reissued.

But the original certificate has been lost - and six months after their beach ceremony, the couple still cannot officially use their married names or apply for passports, bank accounts or a joint mortgage because they do not have the right paperwork.

Mr Goodhall, 37, whose middle name is Stephen, said: "We aren't legally married and that's devastating. "It's a kick in the teeth - and it's all over a missing letter L. Thomas Cook gave us a letter saying we're married, but no banks will accept it."

He and 34-year-old Miss Loader paid more than £4,000 to Thomas Cook to organise their marriage last November at the Punta Cana beach resort.

They paid £2,600 for the wedding, which included flights, hotel, cake, flowers, champagne, and a judge to conduct the ceremony, and another £1,500 for Thomas Cook to handle the legalities of registering the marriage and getting the certificate sent to England.

The couple became aware of the problem with their certificate only when they returned from honeymoon and were having the document translated.

That's gotta hurt !

A German almost died after using a sink plunger as a bath plug and impaling himself after slipping on a bar of soap.

Dieter Bayer, 79, who moved to Switzerland with his wife Frieda after he retired, decided to use the plunger because he could not find the bath plug.

But as he stood up to soap himself he slipped and fell heavily on the plunger, wedging the wooden handle up his backside.

His wife, 68, who rushed to the bathroom when she heard him screaming in pain, was unable to pull him free and called emergency services.

An ambulance spokesman said: "There was a lot of blood, the injury was very serious, he could have died."

Doctors operated for eight hours to repair the damage and it will be at least two weeks before he can leave hospital

Carted off

Maybe a little birdie told him to do it.

An Ohio golfer who had to get to a friend's wedding but figured he was too boozed-up to drive his truck, drove a golf cart to the ceremony nearly eight miles away, police said.

Jeremy Clary, 29, who was drinking and golfing all day last Saturday at Cherokee Hills Golf Club in Valley City left during the outing and made it to the wedding.

But he was stopped on the way back by a cop who arrested him for DUI.

He reportedly had a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit, and cops said the cart did not have a seat belt or headlights.

Clary said he thought it was safer because the cart went no faster than 10 mph.

Burglar killed by fan

A suspected burglar in Miami was found dangling from a large ventilation fan after he apparently stepped on the on switch while his body was inside the machine and killed himself, according to police.

Miami investigators said a "known burglar" in the area was found dead in the powerful fan at the Maranatha Used Clothing store Thursday when the store opened up for business.

A witness said an employee of the store noticed feet dangling from the fan and called police.

Officers said they believe he was trying to scramble through the fan when his foot clicked a switch to the on position.

"If you are going to die for your profession, make it worthwhile," an officer told WSVN on the scene. "He was a known burglar."

"That is horrible," a resident said. "I wouldn't want anyone to die like that."

People in the neighborhood said there have been several robberies in the area in recent weeks.

Shot for bad singing

A MAN has been shot dead by a security guard for singing out of tune in a Philippine karaoke bar.

Romy Baligula, 29, was halfway through his song on Tuesday night in a bar in San Mateo town, east of Manila, when 43-year-old security guard Robilito Ortega yelled that he was out of tune.

When Mr Baligula ignored his comments and continued singing, Ortega pulled out his revolver and shot him in the chest.

Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas said Mr Baligula died instantly.

The security guard was detained by an off-duty policeman shortly after the shooting.

Deaths and violence are not uncommon in Philippine karaoke bars.

The popular Frank Sinatra song My Way has been taken off many karaoke bars in Manila after it was found to be the cause of fights and even deaths when patrons sang out of tune.

New tribe found in the Amazon

An Indian tribe that has had very limited contact with the outside world has been located in a remote Amazon region, federal authorities said Friday.

The Metyktire tribe, with about 87 members, was found last week in an area that is difficult to reach because of thick jungle and a lack of nearby rivers some 1,200 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro, said Mario Moura, a spokesman for the Federal Indian Bureau, or Funai.

The tribe is a subgroup of the Kayapo tribe, and lives on its 12.1 million-acre Menkregnoti Indian reservation, Moura said.

The Kayapo had no significant contact with the Metyktire until two tribe members inexplicably appeared at a Kayapo village last week, he said.

"We don't know why they decided to make contact now ... only time will tell. This is a very slow process," Moura said.

Uncontacted tribes are usually discovered when loggers and ranchers encroach on their territories.

Patrick Cunningham of the London-based Indigenous People's Cultural Support Trust, which is involved in an unrelated expedition in the region, said in an e-mail that the tribe speaks an archaic version of the Kayapo language and goes naked. Like many less-assimilated members of the Kayapo, the men wear penis sheaths and several have plates in their lower lips, he said. The women shave the tops of their heads.

Cunningham, who has not met the tribe, said the Kayapo believe it is was formed by a group of families who fled deeper into the forest when the pioneering Indian defender Orlando Villas Boas appeared in the area in the 1950s.

Megaron Txucarramae, a Kayapo Indian and Funai representative in the region, met with the newly found group in Kremoro village and banned all but a medical team from entering or leaving, fearing the tribe could be more vulnerable to diseases than the Kayapo, Cunningham said.

Miriam Ross, a campaigner with the indigenous rights group Survival International, estimates there are more than 100 uncontacted tribes across the world.

Bead art

An image of singer Charlotte Church made entirely from beads is among the work shortlisted for the Welsh Artist of the Year 2007 competition.

The piece, by Cardiff-based student Sarah Gwyer, took five months to make. She said the "excessive workmanship" she put into her creation reflected her own time spent considering celebrity. Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham are also featured in work by Gwyer, who is from Gloucestershire.

The overall winner and those successful in seven categories will be announced at a ceremony on Sunday.

The 134 artworks, including paintings, sculptures and video art, will go on display in the exhibition at St David's Hall, Cardiff on Monday. Their piece and the rest of the art works, selected by judges from around 450 entries, will be on display at St David's Hall until 10 August.

The winner will receive a cheque for £2,000.

Lucky escape

A driver has had a miracle escape after his car left a motorway and smashed onto the road below. The accident happened on Saturday afternoon on the M876 motorway at Dennyloanhead, Falkirk.

The vehicle hit the pavement about 30ft below, rolled several times and ended up on its side. Police and ambulance crews rushed to the scene but the driver was helped from the car with a chipped tooth and cut head and taken to a nearby house.

Several young boys had been playing below the motorway flyover.

One told the BBC Scotland news website: "We heard something and turned round and saw the car in mid-air - I'm sure it was upright flying through the air, it then came down and hit the kerb not far from us. It rolled several times across the road and came to rest on its side."

Another witness, Thomas Beresford, who is also a first-aider, came across the accident. He said: "When I arrived I saw the car on its side and the driver signalling with his arm through the driver's window. By the time I got up there he was already out of the car, sitting on the wall. He seemed to just have had a cut on his head and a chipped tooth and was able to walk away."

Central Scotland Police said the 21-year-old driver was taken to Stirling Royal Infirmary but was described as "walking wounded".

£1m to find Nessie

A £1 million reward has been offered to anyone who can find conclusive proof that the Loch Ness monster exists. The bounty is part of plans to supply up to 50,000 people with cameras in order to search for the mythical sea creature at next weekend's Rock Ness music festival.

Organisers are claiming it will be the largest ever organised attempt to prove the famous monster is real. Bookmakers William Hill are offering the reward to anyone who finds evidence which persuades the Natural History Museum that Nessie exists.

They are also offering odds of 250/1 that the museum will agree the existence of the creature sometime this year. William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: "We are hoping the £1 million bounty will help to solve one of the great enigmas of modern times.

"This is a great opportunity with such huge crowds on the shores of Loch Ness and it will be fantastic if someone can get a picture with one of the thousands of Nessie-Snappers cameras we are handing out, that can rival the 'Surgeon's photograph', which is still the most recognised despite being taken over 50 years ago."

The bookmakers are also offering a number of consolation prizes including £1,000 and a free £250 bet for the best photographic evidence real or staged.

To qualify for the reward all evidence must be gathered over the weekend of the two-day music festival and must be submitted to William Hill by Monday June 18.

The festival, at Dores, near Inverness, is on June 9 and 10 and features top bands such as the Manic Street Preachers.

This video was released this week , by an amateur scientist from Scotland. Those who follow the creature say it's the among the best pictures ever taken.

No soccer in the street

For generations, children with energy to burn have enjoyed a kickabout in the street. And the footballing youngsters of Utah Close, a small suburban cul de sac of 15 homes, are no exception.

Now, however, their simple pleasure has been outlawed by the local council which said their games of street soccer 'posed a danger' to the public.

The children can no longer put temporary goalposts in the street, and have even been told "jumpers for goalposts" must be "removed from the road immediately" because they are classed as obstructions.

The heartbroken children have also been ordered to remove any toys from the street, including dolls and bikes, because they too are a "hazard".

In a letter to the residents of the street in the Glenfield area of Leicester, county council officials warned parents that they face a £100 fine if their sons and daughters flout the ban.

The authority says its tough stance is backed by Section 161 of the Highways Act 1980 which states: "Any person depositing anything on the highway or playing football on the highway is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine."

The ban has been imposed even though no one who lives in the street complained about the children playing.

Instead, passing motorists, drivers using the cul de sac to turn around in and residents of neighbouring streets are thought to be the source of the complaints.

Yesterday, residents said the youngsters were being robbed of their childhood and called the ban an example of the nanny state gone mad.

Hogzilla II was tame

The huge hog that became known as ``Monster Pig'' after being hunted and killed by an 11-year-old boy had another name: Fred.

The not-so-wild pig had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced area, the animal's former owner said.

Phil Blissitt told The Anniston Star in a story Friday that he bought the 6-week-old pig in December 2004 as a Christmas gift for his wife, Rhonda, and that they sold it after deciding to get rid of all the pigs at their farm.

"I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig," Rhonda Blissitt said.

Jamison Stone shot the huge hog during what he and his father described as a three-hour chase. They said it was more than 1,000 pounds and 9 feet long; if anything, it looked even bigger in a now-famous photo of the hunter and the hunted.

Mike Stone said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday that he had been under the impression that the hog was wild, not farm-raised.

Phil Blissitt said he became irritated when he learned that some thought the photo of Fred was doctored.

Fountains of Wayne - Someone To Love

I can't stop singing this song!


There is also a BRILLIANT take on this with 2 cute kids HERE

Donor show a hoax

It was the reality show to end all reality shows.

The Dutch Prime Minister had said that he feared for his country’s reputation after The Big Donor Show promised to force three patients to compete for a terminally ill woman’s kidney.

In the end, after international condemnation and 45 tense prime-time minutes in which “Lisa” agonised in front of a live studio audience over whether Esther-Claire, Vincent or Charlotte would receive her kidney, the lights went up and it was revealed as a hoax.

“We are not giving away a kidney here, that is going too far even for us,” Patrick Lodiers, the presenter, announced. Turning to the contestants, he added: “They are not actors, they are real kidney patients and their stories were deadly serious.”

The three contestants were genuine sufferers of kidney failure, on the Netherlands’ four-year waiting list for a new organ. Lisa was revealed to be an actress who had a friend who died waiting for a transplant. All agreed to go along with a programme that the makers insisted was to raise awareness of a genuine medical issue, while its detractors suspected it was simply an exercise to revive a flagging channel’s ratings.

One spit too many

A 43-YEAR-OLD German man has been taken to hospital in critical condition after falling off a second storey balcony during a spitting contest with his 12-year-old son, police say.

A spokesman for the police in the eastern town of Cottbus today said the man in Forst had apparently lost his balance after thrusting too far forward in his attempt to out-spit his son.

He tumbled over the ledge and landed on a balcony of the ground floor apartment, police said.

He was taken to hospital in a rescue helicopter.

Hollerin' = No Diploma

GALESBURG, Illinois – Caisha Gayles graduated with honors last month, but she is still waiting for her diploma. The reason: the whoops of joy from the audience as she crossed the stage.

Gayles was one of five students denied diplomas from the lone public high school in Galesburg after enthusiastic friends or family members cheered for them during commencement.

About a month before the May 27 ceremony, Galesburg High students and their parents had to sign a contract promising to act in dignified way. Violators were warned they could be denied their diplomas and barred from the after-graduation party.

Many schools across the country ask spectators to hold applause and cheers until the end of graduation. But few of them enforce the policy with what some in Galesburg say are strong-arm tactics.

“It was like one of the worst days of my life,” said Gayles, who had a 3.4 grade-point average and officially graduated, but does not have the keepsake diploma to hang on her wall. “You walk across the stage and then you can't get your diploma because of other people cheering for you. It was devastating, actually.”

School officials in Galesburg, a working-class town of 34,000 that is still reeling from the 2004 shutdown of a 1,600-employee refrigerator factory, said the get-tough policy followed a 2005 commencement where hoots, hollers and even air horns drowned out much of the ceremony and nearly touched off fights in the audience when the unruly were asked to quiet down.

“Lots of parents complained that they could not hear their own child's name called,” said Joel Estes, Galesburg's assistant superintendent. “And I think that led us to saying we have to do something about this to restore some dignity and honor to the ceremony so that everyone can appreciate it and enjoy it.”

In Indianapolis, public school officials this year started kicking out parents and relatives who cheer. At one school, the superintendent interrupted last month's graduation to order police to remove a woman from the gymnasium.

“It's an important, solemn occasion. There's plenty of time for celebration before and after,” said Clarke Campbell, president of the Indianapolis school board.

The £50m skull

Damien Hirst, former BritArt bad boy whose works infuriate and inspire in equal measure, did it again on Friday with a diamond-encrusted platinum cast of a human skull priced at a cool £50 million.

The skull, cast from a 35-year-old 18th-century European male, is coated with 8,601 diamonds, including a large pink diamond worth more than $8 million in the center of its forehead.

"It shows we are not going to live for ever. But it also has a feeling of victory over death," Hirst said as the sparkling skull was unveiled to the public for the first time amid tight security at central London's White Cube gallery.

Hirst, who has a preoccupation with blood and death and whose works range from diced and pickled quadrupeds to bloody depictions of birth, said he was inspired by similarly bejeweled Aztec skulls. While the skull is platinum and the diamonds flawless -- and ethically sourced, Hirst stressed -- the teeth are real.

"It was very important to put the real teeth back. Like the animals in formaldehyde you have got an actual animal in there. It is not a representation. I wanted it to be real," he said.

The skull is missing one tooth, which Hirst initially replaced with a gold one and then decided to leave out.

"We felt we didn't need it, so we took it out. It feels sort of human and quirky," he said.

Give my mummy back

A New Hampshire man is fighting state law to get back a mummified baby he said is a family heirloom.Charles Peavey, of Concord, said that the mummy, named Baby John, has been in his family for decades.

"He was in our family for 90-plus years, and now we have to fight for something that's truly ours," Peavey said.

Concord police took the corpse a year ago after a woman reported hearing someone talking about a dead baby. Police said they were uncertain who the child was or how it died. Lab tests recently came back. "It's believed to be a male child and very young, possibly a stillborn or a newborn," Detective Julie Curtin said.

Peavey said that there is nothing to prove that the baby is related to him, but he's taking his fight to get it back to court. He said that family folklore holds that his great-great-uncle had an affair with a woman who died in childbirth, and the mummy is their child who died.

"My entire family is behind me 100 percent," Peavey said.

On Thursday, Peavey paid $150 to file a petition to have a judge rule on the case.

"I've been collecting silver since I was 15 years old, and it was to go to my niece, Jennifer," Peavey said. "And she said, 'Just sell the silver. I'd rather have John.'"

His niece, Jennifer Arizmendi, said that she was next in line to get the mummified baby. She said she's just as committed to getting it back. "They've taken something away that they don't have a right to take away," she said. "Regardless if he's blood-related or not, he's been in our family. He's been passed down."

If Peavey doesn't get the body back, he can have it buried, and a cemetery has offered to bury the baby for free.

Welcome to Britain

A former Gurkha who won the Victoria Cross, fighting FOR Britain, has been given the right to live in the UK.

Tul Bahadur Pun, 84, wanted to move from Nepal for medical reasons but had been told he was unable to demonstrate strong enough British ties.

Immigration Minister Liam Byrne has now said his case is "exceptional" and he will be granted a visa due to a "heroic record in the service of Britain".

Former Rifleman Mr Pun was awarded his medal for World War II action in Burma. After the rest of his section, the 3rd Battalion, 6th Gurkha Rifles, had been killed, he carried out a solo attack on a machinegun post.

Actress Joanna Lumley backed Mr Pun's campaign to live in the UK because she said he risked his life to rescue her father.

More than 12,000 people signed a petition on the Downing Street website calling on the prime minister "to immediately and retrospectively give all Gurkha servicemen and their immediate families past and present British citizenship".

Upside-down experiment

A visual artist wants volunteers to turn their world upside down.

Carsten Holler is looking for a group of people to wear special goggles, which makes everything appear inverted, for eight days. The volunteers will live together in Manchester and record their experiences before appearing on stage at the city's International Festival.

The group's vision will remain upside down, even after the goggles are removed, for a short period. The volunteers will have assistants who will help them live with inverted vision, but will have to wear the goggles all the time.

Blindfolds will be worn for sleeping, to ensure they are unable to see anything the right way up, which could revert their vision. Activities and entertainment will be scheduled with the goggle-wearing volunteers finding their vision returning to normal as their brains correct the inversion.

They will then round off their experience on stage at Manchester's Opera House as part of Il Tempo Del Postino - Group Show, during the Manchester International Festival.

Holler is best known for his Test Site installation at London's Tate Modern Turbine Hall.

Festival director Alex Poots said: "The essence of art is to provide a novel experience. But what could be more novel than getting the viewer - in this case a volunteer - to view the world from an unexpected angle and to be part of the experience."

The festival runs from 28 June to 15 July.

Cotswold Olympicks

Just one mile northwest of Chipping Campden is Dovers Hill, 184 acres of green space located on a spur of the Cotswold escarpment, giving excellent views over the Vale of Evesham.

On this spot in 1612 a local lawyer named Robert Dover initiated a peculiar competition known as the Cotswold Olympicks, an annual sporting event-cum-fair incorporating traditional Cotswold folk customs such as shin-kicking sack-race wheelbarrow races , Throwing the Sledge-hammer, Spurning the Barre and cheeserolling

The Cotswold Olympicks were banned during the Commonwealth period following the Civil War, reinstated after the Restoration, and again banned by a prim Victorian vicar in 1851. Finally the fair was reintroduced in 1951. The Cotswold Olympicks is held on the first Friday after Whitsun.

While it may be widely acknowledged by schoolboys the world over as a useful form of playground retribution, shin kicking has largely gone unnoticed as an organised sporting activity.

Although not as aggressive as earlier versions, where players were said to have hardened their shins using hammers in over-zealous preparation for the main event, the competition remains the highlight of the Cotswold "Olimpick" games.

Players, wearing the traditional white smocks of shepherds, grasp each other by the shoulders and attempt to land well-timed blows to their opponent's shins. Only then - in mid-kick - can a player attempt to bring his opposite number to the ground.

A stickler, the ancient name for a judge or umpire, is on hand to make sure a shin is hit before a fall can be scored. Competitors must kick their way through early qualifying rounds, and swing their legs in a three-stage final to be crowned the shin kicking champion.

"It's part of the original games," said organiser Robert Wilson, referring to the rural competition. It was vicious in those days, there was a lot of inter-village rivalry and lads used to harden their shins with hammers and were allowed to wear iron-capped boots. We won't permit that. People stuff their trousers with straw and must wear soft shoes. We never have broken bones but there are some bruises."

Councilor Elvis has weird views

Council meetings in Reus could take a turn for the bizarre after the Catalonian town voted in a councilor who promised to turn up dressed as Elvis Presley and wants to turn the square into a nudist pool.

Ariel Santamaria, a former postman, stood for a small independent party dressed in full Elvis regalia complete with sideburns and won enough votes last weekend to take a council seat.

It remains to be seen how other parties will take his proposals for Reus, a town of 100,000 people near Barcelona. His platform included plans to paint the town hall pink, plant marijuana in the parks and give the town police global positioning systems to find people who might need a light while rolling a joint.