Fake pilot

A 23-year-old unemployed man from southwest China managed to board a plane disguised as a pilot.

Shu Shi turned up at Beijing Capital International Airport in April, fully dressed and equipped like a pilot of the airline company whose flight he wanted to board, the Beijing News reported Thursday, which did not identify the carrier.

The young would-be captain, who had bought the uniform online and downloaded various identification documents, succeeded in getting on the plane which was headed for his home province, Guizhou.

He came unstuck only after the plane’s pilot noticed his fake colleague’s knowledge of aviation matters was somewhat at odds with reality, prompting him to put him under supervision after take-off and hand him over to police upon arrival.

Shu was detained for 10 days and fined 500 yuan (US$65), the Beijing News said.

Mum's the word

A Czech armed robber who targeted McDonald's restaurants was grabbed by the ear and marched to the police station by his mum.

Katka Zahradnikova, 44, from Prague, recognised her 20-year-old son Michal on CCTV footage screened on the local version of Crimewatch.

A police spokesman said: "He admitted he was responsible for robbing a number of the fast-food stores and put up no resistance when she marched him down here by the ear and made him give us a full statement.

"We couldn't have done it better ourselves."

Couple invent 16 children

A couple claimed more than £125,000 in benefit payments after inventing 16 children, a court heard.

Heavy gambler David Wilshaw, 57, and his alcoholic partner Nancy Stevenson, 58, launched their four- year assault on the system in 2003 before they were finally trapped by their greed. At first, the couple legally applied for tax credits for two of Stevenson's real children.

After realising that no one had asked to see birth certificates or any other identification, they made up the names of 16 more children and pocketed £400 each week which they spent on gambling and alcohol. At one stage, Wilshaw was losing up to £600 a week in betting shops while his partner admitted that she had been drinking at least two bottles of brandy a day.

When unemployed Wilshaw was finally caught, he claimed he had done a 'public service' by exposing the benefits loophole. "I claimed for a couple of twins, then another and another," he told investigators. "It was easy. Nobody ever checked up on us until last week."

The couple, who also received £113 income support every week, claimed legal child tax credits after two of Stevenson's teenage children went to live with them at their home in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

After no checks were made on her children the pair set about inventing 16 fictitious offspring.

The names they chose were: Gareth Wilshaw, Simon Wilshaw, Sandra Wilshaw, Brian Wilshaw, Jason Wilshaw, Rebecca Stevenson, Phillip Stevenson, Edith Stevenson, Terry Stevenson, Barbara Stevenson, Amanda Phillips, Jessica Phillips, Miranda Evans, Jemma Williams, Danny Evans and Amber Mitchell.

The couple were arrested three months ago after Inland Revenue investigators visited their home.

Earlier this week, Wilshaw pleaded guilty at North Somerset Magistrates' Court to 20 charges of fraudulent payments of tax credits and 22 counts of fraudulent activity to obtain tax credits between February and December 2006.

The additional charges related to Wilshaw also claiming money for missing Giro cheques with the highest being worth £350. Wilshaw pocketed a total of £75,000 in both frauds.

A month of rain in one day

Flooding has caused chaos across huge areas of England, with hundreds of people being moved from their homes, and transport severely disrupted. Many areas are facing more heavy rain and flooding, with more than 40 flood warnings in force.

A search has been launched for a soldier who was swept away while on an exercise in North Yorkshire.

In Northern Ireland, those affected by flooding earlier this week will be given £1,000 each in damages.

There are currently more than 40 flood warnings in force for areas of Norfolk, Suffolk, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, the Environment Agency has said.

Police said they had received more than 200 calls from Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley caused by heavy rain.

Dozens of roads were closed because of flooding up to 3ft (91cm) deep. In one incident, a man was stuck in his car when water came up to its bonnet under a bridge in Fife Street, in Sheffield's Wincobank area.

The Met Office said the heavy rain affecting Wales, the Midlands and northern England was moving northwards into southern Scotland and the Borders region. Scotland could expect showers to continue over the weekend, it said - although not as severe as the battering experienced by much of England.


A little bit of my drive home

Welcome back to Britain!

An 80-year-old woman who moved to Scotland from America in 1929 has been told she could be deported as an illegal immigrant.

Marguerite Grimmond was born in Detroit but moved to Arbroath with her Scottish mother when she was two. At the beginning of May she left Scotland for the first time for a holiday in Australia.

But when she returned, officials said her American passport was not valid and that she could not stay in the country.

The immigration officers said Mrs Grimmond, who had never applied for British citizenship, should have had her passport stamped by the Home Office before she set off on her holiday. They told her she would only be able to stay in Scotland for a further four weeks, after which time she was legally required to return to America.

Mrs Grimmond and husband Dave, from Kirriemuir, Angus, contacted their solicitors, and have now sent off a cheque for £750 along with an application to become a naturalised British citizen.

But with only five days to go before the deadline to leave the country, Mrs Grimmond was still waiting to hear whether her application had been successful.

She said: "I've been an illegal immigrant, would you believe, but I've paid taxes and done all the things I ought to do. My mother was Scottish, I married a Scottish policeman, my children were all born in Scotland so I assumed I was a Scot too. I wasn't aware that I wasn't a British citizen. I have five days left until I could be tossed out of the country. I'm not terribly pleased about that. I don't know anyone in America. I would just be fair lost, to put it mildly, but I really don't think there's any more I can do. I don't think it will happen but I'm just leaving it in the lap of the gods."

Street art

The National Gallery took it's art to the masses this week, hanging reproductions of some of its most famous paintings around the streets of London.

There were Turners in Soho, Rembrandts in Covent Garden - all intended to give new audiences a taste of the Gallery's treasures.

The 45 full sized copies were framed and displayed with a plaque, as in the museum. Passers-by could also phone a number to hear an audio guide on each work.

For the next 12 weeks, passers-by can stumble across this "urban intervention" as part of an initiative called The Grand Tour, which is aimed at "getting the public to look and think about art", according to the gallery.

The gallery has created a map marking the locations of all the works, with themed tours that cater for lovers, or take in the more "heavy-hitting" works by Titian, Seurat and Van Eyck.

Other works on show included Leonardo da Vinci's The Virgin of the Rocks, displayed in a side road off Regent Street, Bartoleme Bermejo's St Michael Triumphs over the Devil outside the London Fire Station on Shaftesbury Avenue, and George Stubbs' equestrian portrait Whistlejacket, hung outside the Palace Theatre, which is currently showing the musical Spamalot.

The highlights

The Ambassadors (1533) Hans Holbein the Younger, 27-29 Berwick Street

The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) Jan Van Eyck, 109 Wardour Street

The Fighting Temeraire (1839) Joseph Mallord William Turner, 33 Golden Square

Mr and Mrs Andrews (1750) Thomas Gainsborough, 12-26 Lexington Street

Three Men and a Boy (1647-8) The Le Nain Brothers, Little Marlborough Street

A Grotesque Old Woman (1525) Attributed to Quinten Massys, 33-43 Fouberts Place

The Virgin of the Rocks (1486) Leonardo da Vinci, Marlborough Court

Bathers at Asnieres (1884) Georges Seurat, Hamley's, 188 Regent Street

Samson and Delilah (1610) Peter Paul Rubens, Ganton Street

The Entombment (1500-1) Michelangelo, 64-72 Regent Street

Venus and Mars (1485) Sandro Botticelli, Kingly Court

Sunflowers (1888) Vincent Van Gogh, 43 Frith Street

The Water-Lily Pond (1899) Claude-Oscar Monet, 40 Neal Street

Belshazzar's Feast (1636-8) Rembrandt, Wardour Street

Bacchus and Ariadne (1523) Titian, 124-126 Wardour Street

A pint of aftershave please

Russian men are risking death by drinking aftershave and cleaning agents, a study has suggested. UK researchers estimated that half of all deaths in working age men in the country are due to hazardous drinking.

The products, which also include herbal tinctures sold in pharmacies, are widely available, cheap and contain up to 97% alcohol, the Lancet study says. It was found that they contain very few toxins but are deadly simply because of the extreme alcohol levels.

Russian men have an "exceptionally low" life expectancy of 59 years, compared with 72 years for women. Men of working age are three-and-a-half times more likely to die than men in Britain.

Past studies have shown levels of alcohol consumption among the Russian population, where spirits such as vodka are popular, are high.

Banned from having a girlfriend

PETERBOROUGH, Ontario - A judge has ruled that a 24-year-old Canadian man is not allowed to have a girlfriend for the next three years.

The ruling came after Steven Cranley pleaded guilty on Tuesday to several charges stemming from an assault on a former girlfriend.

Cranley, who has been diagnosed with a dependent personality disorder, attacked his girlfriend in an argument after their breakup. He tried to prevent her from phoning the police by cutting her phone cord and punched and kicked her. He finally stabbed himself with a butcher knife when police did arrive, puncturing his aorta.

Doctors say Cranley has difficulty coping with rejection and runs a high risk to re-offend if he becomes involved in another intimate relationship.

Justice Rhys Morgan said Cranley "cannot form a romantic relationship of an intimate nature with a female person. "That is the only way I can see the protection of the public is in place until you get the counseling you need."

Cranley had already served 146 days in pre-trail custody, which Morgan said was enough jail time in this case. His lawyer says the no girlfriend order is the first of its kind that he has encountered.

Space jet

Scientists have unveiled a spaceship that can take off and land at ANY normal airport.

Passengers will be able to board the Space Jet at Gatwick or Stansted — just like a holiday jet.

The ship — a rival to Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Two — will look like a business jet and carry four passengers 60 miles high to the edge of space.

It takes off using a standard jet engine, then at 7½ miles high, it ignites its rocket engines.

Portholes will give stunning views of the Earth as passengers wearing safety helmets float free from their seats.

A trip will cost up to £135,000 for a 1½-hour flight with three minutes of weightlessness.

The Space Jet is the brainchild of European satellite builders Astrium, which has centres in Hertfordshire and Hampshire.

A mock-up of the privately-funded jet was shown in Paris last night.

EADS Astrium said it hoped the space jet — which looks much like a conventional aircraft although it is outfitted with rocket engines — will be operational by next year, with the first flight scheduled for 2012.

Astrium head Francois Auque told reporters the company expects to secure several hundred million dollars in funding for the project by the end of the year. Most of the money is to come from private investors, although governments, like that of the southern German state of Bavaria where the engines are to be produced, may also take part, the company said.

“We are counting on some 20,000 space tourists by the year 2020,” Auque said. “We want to served a third of them. We have faith in this market.”

Selling chili sauce to the Mexicans

It's the spicy sauce equivalent of selling coals to Newcastle - a chilli farmer in rainy Northumberland has set his sights on cracking the Mexican market.

Dan May, 38, believes his operation is the world's Northern-most chilli farm, where he grows 60 varieties across the range of taste, heat, colour and size. Now he is about to start exporting his sauces to the Central American country seen as the home of the chilli.

The former photographer makes six sauces, soon to be seven, under the brand name Trees Can't Dance.
He has just begun talks with a Mexican supermarket to sell his products to the world's chilli aficionados.

At his breezy farm in Coanwood, near Haltwhistle, Mr May said: "If you think about it, the biggest market for your product is going to be the place where they use it most frequently.

"Mexico is an ideal place to be selling, the same as the Caribbean and the US."

He begins growing batches of chillies in heated polytunnels early each year, before starting to harvest in July through to December. The chillies are then blended into high-quality sauces and bottled, without using additives or thickening agents. Mr May uses recipes he picked up during his travels around the world as a landscape photographer.

About 2,000 bottles a week are produced under the Trees Can't Dance brand, which refers to the Central American belief that trees can provide a spiritual place to meditate because they remain in one place.

That figure could rise to 5,000 bottles a week soon.

Worst dressed fans

Liverpool fans may be the most vocal in the land but they're certainly not the most stylish after coming second bottom of the fashion stakes.

Haircare firm Brylcreem interviewed fans from all 92 Premiership and Football League clubs to find out their taste in hairstyles, clothes, labels, drinks, holidays and nights out.

Reading came top, just pipping Northampton Town, while Chelsea were fourth.

Arsenal and Manchester United fans also fared badly, finishing in League Two.

John Keen, from the Reading Supporters' Trust, said: 'Like every club we have our fair share of dodgy specimens. But it's an honour to see we are Champions of Style because looking good to support your club is a serious business.'

Nathan row your boat ashore...

A festival-goer had to be rescued after he attempted to row two miles across a busy shipping lane in the dark – and lost both his oars.

Nathan Byng, in his 20s, was at the Isle of Wight Festival over the weekend and was trying to take a short-cut across the Solent to his home in Portsmouth.

Soon after 3am yesterday, he had to call the coastguard from his unlit, drifting rowing boat, using a mobile phone.

A coastguard spokesman said: 'It might have been an easier option to take the ferry back.'

Wrong turn

A man was arrested before dawn as he drove his Toyota Celica down the Spanish Steps, one of Rome's most popular tourist spots where visitors are usually banned from drinking and singing, let alone driving.

Photographs showed police surrounding the sports car as it neared the bottom of the sweeping 18th-century staircase, almost reaching the Piazza di Spagna.

Police told Italian media the driver was a 24-year-old man of Colombian origin who had turned left at the Trinita dei Monti church at the top of the staircase, apparently mistaking the steps for a road.

He was found to be twice above the legal limit for alcohol, media reported.

The driver was unhurt, but several of the 200-year-old steps were chipped and scuffed.

An eyewitness said: "It was like something out of The Italian Job - this car was coming down the steps at quite a speed but the driver didn't lose control.

"People were diving out of the way and when he got to the bottom he just stopped and stayed there. By this time someone had called the police and when they arrived they breath tested him and took him away. You could see that he'd had a few."

Priorities

Emergency crews restocking flood affected properties in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales have made a special beer delivery to an isolated pub ahead of tonight's rugby league State of Origin game.

Floodwaters are receding but hundreds of people are still isolated around the township of Hinton. SES Spokesman Phil Campbell says they are being re-supplied, and today there was a special beer run.

"When we had some room in the boat we could take a few kegs of beer across to the Hinton pub, because of course State of Origin is on tonight, and it's important that we let communities function as normally as possible."

Meanwhile the St Vincent de Paul Society says it has been inundated by people wanting to help those affected by the floods. The society is working with other voluntary agencies to provide essential material items for people who have lost their possessions in the disaster.

Society CEO John Picot says financial donations are needed more than material goods.

"Our concern at the moment is that we're not able to logistically manage the donation of material goods, blankets and clothes, that's not what we need at the moment," he said. "Most of the requests we're getting from people are for food and that's a consequence of people who're returning to their homes or people who've been operating without power for a number of days."

House crashes into car

A house has crashed into a car on the New England Highway at Greenmount, south of Toowoomba on Queensland's Darling Downs.

The house was being moved under a wide load escort when the accident occurred, before 6:00am AEST.

Traffic was being diverted through a school car park.

An ambulance was called, and treated a woman driving the smaller vehicle at the scene.

"Stupid" Weed

A 16-year-old Sacramento boy spent nearly eight hours on a busy intersection Tuesday holding a sign that read, in part, "I'm stupid."

On Sunday night, Dominiq Drye, 16, came home from hanging out with some friends. His mother, Christine Drye, said she knew immediately something was wrong. "His eyes were red and glossy," said Drye. "I knew something wasn't right."

Dominiq eventually admitted he had smoked some marijuana. His mother said this wasn't the first time. "I've tried taking things, I've tried other punishment. It's not working," she said.

So Drye decided to try something different, something extreme. On Monday night she told her son he was going to have to get up early for a day of work. Early Tuesday morning the two drove to the corner of Howe Avenue and Hurley Way in Sacramento.

"I reached in the back seat, pulled out the sign and gave it to him and he read it and started laughing," said Drye. The sign read, "I'm stupid. I smoke 'weed' marijuana."

"I told him this is your job: you're standing on this street holding up this sign today," said Drye.

From 7:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., Dominiq stood in the sun and held his sign. He admitted he was humiliated. "I feel embarrassed that I have to go through this and other people have to see me do this," he said. But Dominiq never complained. "It's fair enough," he said.

Basil Fawlty's License plate

I seem to get lots of weird "referrals" but whoever the person was from Boeing in Chicago, who googled "what is basil fawlty's mini cooper plate number" and only found 5 sites (mine included)

I thought I could help out a little ...
First off, it's an Austin 1100, not a Mini..

Here's a picture, you should be able to make out the license plate from it :)

4LG H2R ?

Pepsi iced cucumber

Yes, you read that correctly.

Ice cucumber Pepsi. It's a limited edition soda only available in Japan. What does it taste like?

"Kind of like Satan in my mouth," according to a guy on YouTube named Peter who lives in Japan.

You can watch him drink it inside.

I have so many questions.

For example: Why cucumber? Does cucumber have a taste? Should it be iced?

I may not sleep at all tonight.

Pole-ad

Passengers landing at Gatwick (Britain's second busiest airports) airport are being greeted by a giant naked pole dancer. The 9,000 sq m (100,000 sq ft) image is painted on grassland under the incoming flight path.

Planning officers are investigating whether permission was granted for the advertisement, which promotes a website. The Council to Protect Rural England said that the display was “a tacky advert which set a nasty precedent”.

Mafia Radio FM

NAPLES Police have closed down a mafia-run radio station that they say was being used to broadcast secret messages to imprisoned mafiosi through song “dedications”.

The illegal station, set up by a clan of the Camorra (the Naples mafia) at Ercolano — ancient Herculaneum — broadcast “requests” for Neapolitan songs with dedications, which in reality were messages to clan members who tuned in while they were in jail. Some of the songs and dedications were a prearranged code to mafia gangsters at large, police said.

The closure of the radio was part of a crackdown involving 54 arrests in the south of Naples on charges of drugs trafficking, extortion and murder. Police confiscated mafia properties, seven armoured vehicles and video surveillance systems, as well as the offices and equipment of the radio station.

Sarkozy drunk ? You decide

A Belgian newsreader has apologised for suggesting the French President was drunk at the recent G8 summit. The comments related to a video clip showing Nicolas Sarkozy grinning and looking disorientated.

The footage, recorded after Mr Sarkozy emerged from a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has become one of the most popular clips on video-sharing website YouTube.

In the clip, Mr Sarkozy arrives at a press conference short of breath and apologises for his lateness, saying he had been having a long chat with Mr Putin.

He then pauses, seemingly on the verge of giggling, before shrugging at his audience and asking: "So, what do you want? Me to answer questions?"

Walkies ! ( But only ONE dog!)

Animal lovers have launched a campaign to overturn a ban on walking more than two dogs at once.

The by-law, introduced by Kensington and Chelsea council in January, also stipulates that in certain areas, including public footpaths and some grassed squares, dogs must be kept on leads no more than 4ft long.

Anyone breaking the dog control order can be issued with an £80 on-the-spot fine and the Tory-run council has ordered its enforcement officers to seek out repeat offenders. Today, residents of the borough joined professional dog-walkers to fight the rules, which have been labelled "draconian".

Actress Felicity Kendal, who has been a dog owner for years, said: "This kind of absurd legislation affects the way we live. "To live in a society where the number of pets a person can have is controlled by the council, and where people patrol the streets treating animals like motor cars, is a clear example of the nanny state going too far."

Resident Tara Hewitt, 37, is the latest dog walker to receive a fixed penalty notice after being caught looking after four small dogs while waiting for a friend to come and help walk them. She accused the council of using "scaremongering" tactics after she was warned by three enforcement officers not to fight the fine in court.

"I had no idea about the law but they still gave me a ticket," she said. "They suggested that if I tried to take it to court I wouldn't have a leg to stand on and I would end up with a bigger fine - up to £1,000."

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the Conservative MP for Kensington and Chelsea, said he had received more letters on the issue than any other since he took office. "I think the council has bitten off more than it can chew and is beginning to realise the strength of feeling about this," he said.

Town to fine saggy pants

DELCAMBRE, Louisiana -- Sag your britches somewhere else, this Cajun-country town has decided. Mayor Carol Broussard said he would sign an ordinance the town council approved this week setting penalties of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for being caught in pants that show undergarments or certain parts of the body.

Broussard said he has nothing against saggy pants but thinks people who wear them should use discretion. "It's gotten way out of hand out here," he said.

Albert Roy, the councilman who introduced the ordinance, said he thought the fine was a little steep and should be more in the $25 range, but he still favored the measure.

"I don't know if it will do any good, but it won't hurt," Roy said. "It's obvious, and anybody with common sense can see your parts when you wear sagging pants."

Broussard's advice for people who like their pants to hang low: "Just wear it properly. Cover your vital parts. I mean, if you expose your private parts, you'll get a fine. If you walk up and your pants drop, you get a fine. They're better off taking the pants off and just wearing a dress."

What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?

Having one too many as you steer your floating gin palace between marinas will become a thing of the past under new Government proposals. Ministers hope that the days of the drunken sailor will be curbed in much the same way as drink-driving became acceptable after the intruction of the breathalyser.

For years yacht skippers and devil-may-care speedboat drivers have over-indulged with a carefree "the sun's gone over the yardarm" excuse as they pour out the gin and tonics.

However, the new proposals will make it a criminal offence to be in charge of a leisure boat while under the influence of alcohol. Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman said the alcohol drink-driver limit would soon be introduced to apply to "non-professional mariners", people who go boating on a casual basis.

It will apply to those who navigate a vessel longer than 21ft (7m) and/or capable of a maximum speed of more than seven knots (9 mph).

The measures are being introduced in response to an increasing number of water sports enthusiasts who are drinking to excess and putting others' lives at risks with their waterborne activities.

For the moment, however, jet skis will be exempt from the new legislation.

Under the new laws - to be introduced after draft legislation is drawn up this summer - leisure mariners who get behind the wheel when drunk will face similar prosecution to drink-drivers.

Men have DO have phantom pregnancies

Aches and pains are often part of pregnancy. But men do their best not to complain too much. Until the morning sickness kicks in that is, along with the mood swings, cramps - and, yes, even a swelling belly.

According to scientists, some fathers to be are so in tune with their expectant partners they actually experience a phantom pregnancy. In the largest study of its kind, 282 expectant fathers were monitored by specialists while their partners were pregnant. The results were then compared with the emotional and physical well-being of 281 men whose partners were not having a baby.

"These men were so attuned to their partners, they started to develop the same symptoms," said Dr Arthur Brennan, who carried out the research at St George's University of London in South London.

One man in the study said he and his wife suffered morning sickness at the same time while another said his stomach pains worsened in a similar way to a woman's contractions.

Some men involved in the study even experienced food cravings.

"I was constantly hungry all the time and had an unstoppable craving for chicken kormas and poppadoms," one said. "Even in the early hours of the morning I would get up and prepare myself one. It was strange to say the least."

Happy time for peg salesmen

Families are turning back the clock and pegging out their washing to save money - and the planet.

A leading supermarket has seen a 1,400% increase in the sale of pegs in the first four months of 2007, compared with a year ago. Sales of washing lines and rotary dryers are up by 147%.

The move appears to reflect a desire to reduce reliance on tumble dryers, which use huge amounts of energy, so contributing to the release of carbon and climate change.

The greater reliance on hanging out the washing this year probably reflects the long, warm, dry spell in April, which may itself be a consequence of global warming.

The switch back to traditional washing lines is being promoted by the Energy Savings Trust and councils across the country. Every use of a tumble dryer generates some 1.5kg of carbon dioxide - enough to fill 150 party balloons.

Using a tumble dryer for every wash will be responsible for emitting about 140kg of CO2 a year, and could cost more than £70 a year.

A trend to reduce the energy involved in doing the laundry has already seen a decision by Marks & Spencer and Asda to reduce the temperature recommendation for washing their clothes from 40 to 30 degrees.

Asda sold more than 1.2million clothes pegs from January to the end of April, up 1,400 % in a year.

Whale harpooned 100 years ago

A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt - more than a century ago. Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.

"No other finding has been this precise," said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Calculating a whale's age can be difficult, and is usually gauged by amino acids in the eye lenses. It's rare to find one that has lived more than a century, but experts say the oldest were close to 200 years old.

The bomb lance fragment, lodged in a bone between the whale's neck and shoulder blade, was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time, Bockstoce said.

It was probably shot at the whale from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890. The small metal cylinder was filled with explosives fitted with a time-delay fuse so it would explode seconds after it was shot into the whale. The bomb lance was meant to kill the whale immediately and prevent it from escaping.

The device exploded and probably injured the whale, Bockstoce said.

"It probably hurt the whale, or annoyed him, but it hit him in a non-lethal place," he said. "He couldn't have been that bothered if he lived for another 100 years."

The whale harkens back to far different era. If 130 years old, it would have been born in 1877, the year Rutherford B. Hayes was sworn in as president, when federal Reconstruction troops withdrew from the South and when Thomas Edison unveiled his newest invention, the phonograph.

The 49-foot male whale died when it was shot with a similar projectile last month, and the older device was found buried beneath its blubber as hunters carved it with a chain saw for harvesting.

"It's unusual to find old things like that in whales, and I knew immediately that it was quite old by its shape," said Craig George, a wildlife biologist for the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management, who was called down to the site soon after it was found.

The revelation led George to return to a similar piece found in a whale hunted near St. Lawrence Island in 1980, which he sent to Bockstoce to compare.

"We didn't make anything of it at the time, and no one had any idea about their lifespan, or speculated that a bowhead could be that old," George said.

Bockstoce said he was impressed by notches carved into the head of the arrow used in the 19th century hunt, a traditional way for the Alaskan hunters to indicate ownership of the whale.

Whaling has always been a prominent source of food for Alaskans, and is monitored by the International Whaling Commission. A hunting quota for the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission was recently renewed, allowing 255 whales to be harvested by 10 Alaskan villages over five years. The American Cetacean Society reports there are more than 8,000 bowhead whales in the Arctic waters.

Luggage free airports ?

Holidaymakers could avoid their trips being blighted by airport chaos under plans for "luggagefree" terminals to be unveiled today.

Instead of dragging their suitcases to check-in, passengers would pay to have their baggage picked up from home and delivered independently to their destination.

It would be tracked by computer, using the same technology already employed by parcel delivery firms and supermarket home-shopping systems.

The system could end lengthy queues at check-in and security, reduce the effect of baggagehandler strikes and slash the number of bags lost globally each year - currently 30million.

Fuel economies from lighter luggage-free passenger aircraft could save airlines 22 per cent of the industry's annual revenue which, if passed on to passengers, could amount to a reduction of around £30 per ticket.

That should be enough to pay for the luggage service.

The plan will be discussed today at a parliamentary conference organised by the all-party Aviation Group, with executives from the airport operator BAA and Transport Department officials among the guests.

Many passengers are already having to pay to put their bags on to planes.

Ryanair currently charges passengers £10 per flight to check in bags at the airport - or £5 per flight to use the "fastdrop" facility booked on the Internet - to encourage them to bring only hand luggage.

Losing the (Lazurus) plot

A rock band sold their instruments to help pay for a demo tape – but then had nothing to play on when they got to the studio.

The Lazarus Plot, from Clapham, South London, had to buy new instruments on a borrowed credit card, then return them for a refund.

They were eventually signed by indie label Illuminated, which releases their first single next week.

Singer Dan Batchelor said: 'We hope to sell enough copies to buy new equipment.'

Go listen to "Doesn't change a thing" on their Myspace , not a bad little ditty :)

Life in the slow lane

A 90-year-old pensioner had to be rescued from the hard shoulder of a motorway after he took a wrong turn on his electric scooter.

Concerned motorists called police when they saw the man on the westbound hard shoulder of the M27 near Whiteley, Hampshire this afternoon plodding along at 5mph.

A police spokeswoman said the confused man got lost after travelling on the scooter from his home in Locksheath to a shopping centre in Whiteley.

Find Maddie posters in Second Life

British police plan to post pictures of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann in virtual world Second Life, a UK-based child protection law enforcement organization says.

The virtual posters of the four-year-old, who vanished in Portugal nearly six weeks ago, will appear in prominent locations in the online world.

Officers are in talks with Internet-based Second Life,which has 7.2 million members, Britain's Press Association reported Tuesday.

Second Life is a virtual world, sometimes described as a game, in which people control "avatars" to meet people, fool around and even run businesses.

Jim Gamble, of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), told PA the move demonstrated the commitment of police to pursue the case.

Traditional posters appealing for information from the Portuguese resort where Madeleine disappeared have been translated into several languages, Gamble said.

Can't think of a headline ... please comment

A Chinese court has jailed two officials after they let a blind contractor build a bridge which collapsed during construction and injured 12 people, the official Xinhua news agency said Monday.

Huang Wenge, township head of Bujia in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, and colleague Xia Jianzhong were sentenced to 18 months and one year in jail, respectively, for not stopping the project, Xinhua said.

"Huang Wenge and Xia Jianzhong, who were in charge of road management and supervision, did not ask the contractors to provide certificates guaranteeing their proficiency," it said, citing the court ruling.

"When they knew the bridge was being built by a blind contractor, they did not stop it," it said, adding the contractor had changed the blueprint without getting a professional to look at the design.

"After the blind contractor changed the blueprint, he carried out the work only using a roughly drawn draft of the plan, which caused the bridge to collapse," the report said.

Xinhua did not explain how the contractor was able to run the project considering his inability to see.

Rickshaws to the rescue

Rickshaw riders came to the aid of police chasing a wanted man through city streets by giving two police officers a lift. Pcs Ann-Marie Rosier and Sue Beament jumped aboard two of Hereford's rickshaw-style pedicabs to take them 800m to the other side of the city.

Riders, Ben Matthews and Will Vaughan pedalled furiously across Castle Green and the duo got their man. He has been remanded in custody over an assault and breaching bail conditions.

The pursuit began on Friday evening when the police officers got an emergency distress call from colleagues trying to arrest the man. As they were on the other side of the city they hopped aboard the pedicabs, which have a top speed of about 18 mph, for the half mile journey.

Pedicab rider Will Vaughan, 26, said: "We went as fast as we could. It was an absolute surprise. One minute we were dropping some fares off, the next we were commandeered by police. It was fantastic."

Ben Matthews, 27, took the two officers while Will rode as an outrider in front.

Pc Rosier said: "Our colleagues were some distance away and in need of urgent assistance but we couldn't get there by car. We knew if we ran the distance it may take too long and when we arrived we would not have been in the best condition to help. So when the pedicabs turned up we used our initiative and hopped on board."

West Mercia Police have said the two riders will get a generous tip for their ride.

Rome rebuilt

Computer experts on Monday unveiled a digital reproduction of ancient Rome as it appeared at the peak of its power in A.D. 320 - what they called the largest and most complete simulation of a historic city ever created.

Visitors to virtual Rome (Brilliant website ! worth a browse...(click on gallery) but don't forget to come back here !) will be able to do even more than ancient Romans did: They can crawl through the bowels of the Colosseum, filled with lion cages and primitive elevators, and fly up for a detailed look at bas-reliefs and inscriptions atop triumphal arches.

"This is the first step in the creation of a virtual time machine, which our children and grandchildren will use to study the history of Rome and many other great cities around the world," said Bernard Frischer of the University of Virginia, who led the project.

The $2 million simulation will be used by scientists to run experiments - such as determining the crowd capacity of ancient buildings - and as a scholarly journal that will be updated at each new discovery of one of Rome's marvels.

The simulation reconstructs some 7,000 buildings at the time of emperor Constantine, when Rome was a vibrant and cosmopolitan city of about 1 million people, said Bernard Frischer of the University of Virginia, who led the project.

Guided by laser scans of modern-day Rome and advice from archaeologists, experts have rebuilt almost the entire city within its original 13-mile-long wall using the same computer programs architects use to plan new constructions, he said.

It even includes the interiors of about 30 buildings - among them the Senate, the Colosseum and the basilica built by the emperor Maxentius - complete with frescoes and decorations.

The simulation shows statues and monuments as they would appear without the dark smudges left by pollution. The computer experts also were able to accurately recreate buildings that are now almost in ruins, such as the temple dedicated to the goddesses Venus and Roma and the Meta Sudans, a fountain that stood near the Colosseum, Frischer said.

The program was created over 10 years by an international team of archaeologists, architects and computer specialists from the University of Virginia and UCLA, as well research institutes in Italy, Germany and Britain, he said.

Buttshead !

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa -- Police blame a woman named Butts for stealing toilet paper from a central Iowa courthouse, and while they're chuckling, the theft charge could put her in prison.

"She's facing potentially three years of incarceration for three rolls of toilet paper," Chief Lon Walker said, stifling a laugh as he talked to KCCI-TV about Suzanne Marie Butts. "See, I can't say it with a straight face."

Workers had noticed the rolls disappearing from the Marshall County Courthouse much faster than usual, Walker said.

Butts, 38, was caught last week after an employee saw her taking three rolls of two-ply tissue from a storage closet, Walker said.

Butts insisted it was the first time she'd pilfered toilet paper, but she declined to answer further questions on her attorney's advice.

The fifth-degree theft charge, a misdemeanor, normally carries a sentence of less than a year in jail. But Butts could face more time if convicted under the state's habitual offender law because she has prior theft convictions.

Walker did not know why Butts was at the courthouse, but said that she did not work there.

Too disabled to fly

A Jacksonville man who's confined to a wheelchair said he was not allowed on an airplane because of his disability.Andy Gates has dystonia -- a neuro-muscular disease. He said he should be in Wisconsin, but he is still in Jacksonville because while getting ready to board a U.S. Airways flight on Wednesday airline workers told him they could not let him travel on his own.

"They said I was too disabled to fly alone. I don't have enough words to describe how angry I am," Gates said.

He said he wanted to fly to Wisconsin from Jacksonville. He checked his bags at the ticket counter and waited at the gate to get on the plane, but just before he started to board he said a U.S. Airways employee would not let him on the plane.

"We went to the gate and they told me I could not fly. … not alone," Gates said.

He said after being told he was too disabled to fly he felt outraged and discriminated against.

Gates said that he's flown seven times in the past by himself, even on U.S. Airways, and never had a problem. He said the airline manager told him at the last minute that he could fly if his mother, Patsy Gates, accompanied him.

"He says to me, 'You have six minutes to make a decision on whether to go. You can go with him or he cannot go. You have six minutes,'" she said. "Meanwhile, I am parked in a 30 minutes parking zone, and I'm having surgery tomorrow, and they did not guarantee me a way back."

The airline issued a statement on Thursday stating: "U.S. Airways personnel determined that (Gates) would not be able to assist in his own evacuation in the event of an emergency. We feel that our employees acted appropriately and followed both company and federal policy in this situation."

The Department of Transportation handles complaints like that of Gates. There is a law in place that says a person with mobility impairment so severe that they are unable to assist evacuation can be denied travel.

However, Gates said he can move and demonstrated that he is able to get into his chair. He said he offered to show that to the airline. He said he could control his legs and arms. "I have a college degree. I am completely intelligent. I can make my own decisions. I don't know why I was denied," Gates said.

The airline said it would refund Gates' money, but it could take several days. Gates took another flight on a different airline on Saturday.

What are the odds of that ?

Two sets of sextuplets have been born in different states less than a day apart.

It's a rare occurrence, but one that fertility experts said could become increasingly common as more couples seek artificial methods of conceiving babies.

Brianna Morrison, who used fertility drugs, gave birth just before midnight Sunday in Minneapolis. About ten hours later, Jenny Masche, who used artificial insemination, gave birth in Phoenix by Caesarean section.

The tiny new Minnesotans -- four boys and two girls -- were listed in critical condition.

Five of the Arizona babies were still on ventilators. The three boys and three girls were almost 10 weeks premature. All but one weighed less than 3 pounds.

Experts said the chances of spontaneously conceiving sextuplets is one in 4.7 billion, although the odds improve significantly with fertility treatment.

Go green & get fined !

Bob Teixeira spent $1,200 to convert his 1981 Mercedes from diesel to soybean oil. In response, North Carolina's tax collector issued a $1,000 fine and told him to expect to receive a similar levy from the federal government.

His crime? He didn't put up a $2,500 bond and apply for a state fuel license. (It didn't help that he drove past revenue agents with a bumper sticker that said: "Powered by 100% vegetable oil.")

"With the high cost of fuel right now, the department does recognize that a lot of people are looking for relief," Reggie Little, assistant director of the tax agency's motor fuel taxes division, tells the Charlotte Observer. "We're not here to hurt the small guy, we're just trying to make sure that the playing field is level."

Teixeira says he'll pay the fines and apply for a license. In the meantime, he's pumping diesel again.

Here's some more information on tax laws regarding biofuels.

Blade fetches $6.4m

FONTAINEBLEAU, France — A gold-encrusted sword Napoleon wore into battle in Italy sold on Sunday for more than $6.4 million at an auction south of Paris, the auction house said.
The last of Napoleon's swords in private hands, it had been expected to fetch more than $1.6 million, according to the Osenat auction house, which handled the sale.

Osenat did not identify the buyer, but said the sword will remain in Napoleon's family, which had put it up for sale in the first place. The emperor gave it to his brother, Jerome, as a wedding gift in 1805 — and it had remained among their descendants ever since.

Applause rang out in a packed auction hall across the street from one of Napoleon's imperial castles in Fontainebleau, a town southeast of Paris where the sword was sold.

The intricately decorated blade is 32 inches in length and curves gently — based on an inspiration Napoleon drew from his Egyptian campaign, auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat said.

The sword was carried by Napoleon — who was not yet emperor — into the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, when he launched a surprise attack to push the Austrian army from Italy and seal France's victory, auction house officials said.

The sword was declared a national treasure in 1978, meaning that under French law it could be sold to a foreign buyer but had to remain in France for at least five months per year.

The sale ended up being a family affair. Before the auction, its joint owners were eight direct descendants of Napoleon. Strong enough for battle, the sword is uncommonly ornate — with geometric designs in gold covering the hilt and most of the blade.

Selling sand to the Arabs

A GROUP of Australian companies is exporting the impossible – they are selling sand to Saudi Arabia.

The construction boom in the desert nations of the Middle East has created a demand for raw materials, and the region has become a new export destination for Australian businesses.

Perth's GMA Garnet will this month send a shipment of heavy mineral sand to Saudi Arabia for sandblasting, a high-pressure technique to smooth and clean hard surfaces in buildings.

Managing director Torsten Ketelsen said the special alluvial sand is suited for sandblasting because it is free of silica, which creates dust that can cause lung cancer and silicosis in workers.

"The Australian garnet sand that we are exporting has unique characteristics including very high hardness and durability which is perfect as an industrial abrasive and for ultra-high pressure waterjet cutting applications," Mr Ketelsen said.

Six-pasties-only rule

TESCO staff threatened to call cops when Andrew Williamson tried to buy EIGHT pasties. Taxi boss Andrew, 48, was told to put two back because there was a six-pasties-only rule.

And when he argued, staff at the supermarket warned they would call police.

The Ginster's pasties had been reduced from around £1 to 36p for two after reaching their sell-by date.

Dad-of-four Andrew picked them up for a family tea for eight people. He said: “I was stunned when the till girl said I could only have six. The shop was about to close and presumably they would’ve been thrown away. I started asking the customers around me about it and they thought it was stupid as well. They were pasties, not paracetamol — so it’s not like I can overdose on them.”

After half an hour staff at the store in Batley, West Yorks, relented and sold him all eight — along with £45-worth of groceries.

Andrew, of nearby Ossett, said: “In the end there were about 20 staff round the checkout and dozens of customers watching. I felt like a criminal.

“One of the staff even threatened to call the police. I was expecting Jeremy Beadle to appear at any moment. It was ridiculous.”

A Tesco spokeswoman said: “We operate a commonsense approach to multi-purchasing to ensure the widest range of products is available for everyone. We would like to apologise if Mr Williamson felt mistreated and for this inconvenience.”

Enclyclopedia of life

A group of the world's leading scientists announced yesterday that they had joined forces to document the world's 1.8 million named species in a massive new "Encyclopedia of Life."

The unprecedented $12.5 million effort -- a collaboration of Chicago's Field Museum, Harvard University, the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., the Smithsonian Institution, the Biodiversity Heritage Library and the Missouri Botanical Garden -- aims to create separate Web pages on every known species within a decade.

Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, who helped initiate the project, estimates that humans have catalogued just 10 percent of the world's species, and much of the information is fragmented. The encyclopedia will create a reservoir of knowledge akin to the Human Genome Project, he said in an interview Monday.

"In an relatively short period of time, we'll be able to fill up everything that is known on a given species," Wilson said. "It's something that's invaluable, and its time has come."

The entries will include written information, as well as photos, video and sound recordings, and locator maps when possible, and it will be subject to the same kind of public editing process that is practiced on the Wikipedia Web site.

Bike thief caught

A prolific bike thief who stole up to two machines every day, has been arrested after going on the run.

Daniel Westrop, aged, 27, from Bromley, south-east London, had failed to turn up for a court hearing on 24 May.

Westrop, 27, admitted nine counts of bicycle theft and had 93 similar offences taken into account.

The labourer was found in Catford, south London, and had been wanted for cycle thefts at stations in the South-East.

An arrest warrant was issued after he failed to attend his sentencing hearing at Woking Magistrates' Court.

Westrop stole mostly mountain bikes from cycle racks used by commuters, police said.

British Transport Police (BTP) said he scoured the railway network for bikes which he then sold.

Man vs Horse

For only the second time in its history the Man versus Horse marathon has been won by a runner - in fact, two beat the first horse home in the race held every June at Llanwrtyd Wells in Powys.

German participant Florian Holginger came in 11 minutes before the first horse while John Parkinson from the UK was a minute behind the winner.

Organisers said Saturday's hot weather meant many of the 45 horses taking part were withdrawn from the marathon. The 22-mile race now in its 28th years attracts competitors from all over the world and this year a total of 250 runners took part.

Throughout the race the runners try to out run the horses over marsh, mountain and bog. Organiser Gareth Davies said the paramount concern this year had been for the safety of the horses taking part.

"Forty five horses started the race but there were regular checks and vets were stopping those which got too tired," said Mr Davies.

The first man home on Saturday completed the course in two hours and 20 minutes.

In 2004 a London marathon runner became the first human to triumph in the annual dual with horse and scooped a £25,000 prize. This year's winner will take home a £3,000 prize.

Gorilla run

He teaches court reporting at the College of Marin. She is a stay-at-home mom. Sunday marked the 39th wedding anniversary for Tom and Candace Holub.

So the couple from Vallejo celebrated by waking at 5 a.m., donning gorilla suits and masks and heading to San Francisco, where they joined hundreds of other people dressed as the largest of the apes for a charity run through Golden Gate Park.

The Holubs were among more than 400 people who turned out for the first Great Gorilla Run through Golden Gate Park. The 4.3-mile race, which began shortly after 9 a.m., was billed as good fun for a good cause: The Gorilla Organization, which sponsored the race, was established under a different name nearly 30 years ago to save endangered gorillas in Africa. There are only about 700 mountain gorillas left in the wild, the organization says.

The event started in London in 2003 and has raised about $2 million. The San Francisco gorilla run was the organization's first such event in the United States. The number of runners was limited to just over 400 because the organization ran out of gorilla suits -- provided with the $100 entry fee.

Jillian Miller, executive director of the Gorilla Organization, which was inspired by the work of the late American primatologist Dian Fossey, took in the spectacle of people dressed as their closest living relatives. Smiling, she said, "What is it about gorilla costumes that make people so happy?"

As if wearing a gorilla suit on a Sunday morning weren't unique enough, outfits were heavily accessorized. There were gorillas in leopard thongs, hemp flip-flops, Elvis suits, sunglasses, wigs, bonnets and Viking horns. There were gorillas with hula hoops, gorillas dancing to "SexyBack," gorillas on rollerblades and gorillas pulling red wagons.

"I had wanted to be Al Gore-illa, but the Al Gore mask didn't work over the gorilla mask," lamented Mike Nicolls of Palo Alto. He settled for a tight white Elvis pantsuit pulled over the gorilla suit. "I think the difficult thing will be running with the mask, as it's kind of hard to see out of."

Des

Meet Des, who has 26 toes.

While most pet cats have 18 - five on their front paws and four on their rear - the 10-year-old boasts seven on his front and six on his back paws. The extra digits have left owner Alison Thomas, of Felindre, near Swansea, pondering whether it is a UK record.

There are unconfirmed reports in north America of cats with up to 28 toes - but Mrs Thomas cannot find records closer to home.

Mother-of-three Mrs Thomas said: "He came to us when he was about six months old - he just turned up on the doorstep and it was even more noticeable then because his paws were so big.

"The first thing people say when they see him even now is 'look at his paws'.

"He is a bit temperamental - if you know him you are okay but Des can be quite quick with his paws and leave a nasty scratch because he has so many claws.

Shrek tartan

A Borders knitwear firm has produced a special Shrek tartan for the cinematic ogre with a Scottish accent.

Selkirk-based Lochcarron of Scotland produced a giant kilt in "muted browns and acid greens" to mark the launch of Shrek the Third later this month. VisitScotland came up with the idea to encourage people to trace their own history and Scottish roots.

Voice actor Mike Myers - who gave the ogre his accent in 2001 - was presented with the kilt during a visit to London.

Jenni Steele, senior PR Manager at VisitScotland, said the "fun project" had a serious side.

"We wanted to highlight just how diverse Scotland's heritage can be - and if Shrek can have a tartan, so can anyone," she said. "There are thought to be in excess of 50 million people across the world who can claim Scottish ancestry. So this is a great opportunity to be able to link our national heritage with such a well loved film character."

Hang in there

Passengers found their ride on a roller coaster in Arkansas even scarier than expected after a power cut left them dangling upside down for half an hour.

The US thrill-seekers hung 150ft (46m) above the ground before being brought down by firemen. They were rescued by ladder, whereupon a least one passenger was sick.

"It was very scary," said Connie McBride, after her unwanted adventure. "I love the amusement park, but I will never get on the X-Coaster again."

Angela Salter, who was on another ride that also seized up in the power cut, said: "You could tell who got off the [X-Coaster] because their faces were red."

A spokeswoman for the Springs & Crystal Falls amusement park said the management was investigating the cause of the power cut.

Car pooling

SUBANG JAYA: So heavy was the rain yesterday that a taxi driver drove his vehicle into a 1.5m-deep swimming pool at a condominium in Malaysia.
The incident happened at 5pm when the driver in his 30s entered the Vista Millenia condominium in Puchong Perdana to pick up a passenger.

"It was raining heavily when I entered the area. I couldn’t see clearly," said the traumatised taxi driver.

According to the condominium’s security guard, the driver entered a pathway meant for joggers around the swimming pool.

"The sky was so dark that the driver must have thought the pool was a rubber mat.
"When he reached a dead end, he tried to make a U-turn, not realising he was driving into the pool," said the guard.

The driver managed to get out of the car as it was sinking. A tow truck took nearly an hour to pull the taxi out.

The condominium’s residents’ association chairman Chidan Paran said the pathway which the taxi entered was not blocked. "Anyone could have easily mistaken it for a driveway as it is wide enough for a car to pass through," he said.

Kissing world record

HUNGARIANS have broken the world record for simultaneous kissing on with more than 6400 couples joined lips for a few seconds at a party outside the country's parliament.
Hungary has been engaged in a kissing duel with the Philippines since 2004, when 5327 couples kissed in Manila, followed by new records in Budapest in 2005 and 6124 couples in Manila again this February.

"The news came a few months ago that Filipinos had overtaken us, we became defiant and said we would take it back again," journalist Ferenc Pallagi who organised the Kissing Party, said.

One young couple who identified themselves as Orsi and Pityu started kissing during the rock concert half an hour before the official record attempt.

"That's the least we can do for the nation," Pityu said.

Mr Pallagi said he was pleased the square in front of the ornate parliament building by the river of Danube was the scene of such peaceful emotions. The square had been cordoned off for months after being the scene of protests against the Government.

"It is early summer...and how else could these young people express themselves than through their love and emotions," he said before the couples in white baseball caps kissed and the concert resumed.

CoE furore

The Church of England is considering legal action against entertainment firm Sony for featuring Manchester Cathedral in a violent PlayStation video game.

The Church says Sony did not obtain permission to use the interior in the war game Resistance: Fall of Man.

The game, which has sold more than one million copies, shows a virtual shoot-out in the cathedral's nave in which hundreds of enemies are killed.

Sony said it believed it had sought all necessary permission for the game.

The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, described the decision to feature the city's cathedral as "highly irresponsible" - especially in the light of Manchester's history of gun crime.

"It is well known that Manchester has a gun crime problem," he said.

"For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible."

Birthday scuppered

A family who wanted to fly a Jolly Roger pirate flag at their house for their son's birthday party have been told they need planning permission.

Richard Smith and Sharon Cooper from Stone in Staffordshire have postponed Morgan's sixth birthday while they await the outcome of their application. Permission is required to fly anything other than national flags, a Stafford Borough Council spokesman said. After a complaint the family were told they were in breach of planning laws.

The couple have paid £75 for the application.

"I wanted to show my friends the flag but now I've got to take my flag down and I'm sad," Morgan told BBC News.

Will Conaghan from the council said: "It's okay to fly the England flags and the Union Jack flags but, flying anything else, you have to get proper planning permission for it. There's already been complaints from neighbours, so until they get permission, they'll actually be in breach of the planning law."

Morgan's father Richard said he was frustrated at what lengths they have had to go through. "It just seems so ridiculous, you've got to see the funny side of it but, I'm also angry and upset at what I've got to go through to get permission to fly it."

The family will find out at the end of the month if permission has been granted.

Round the world & Bach

A Proms violinist is planning to spend five months busking his way around the world to raise money for charity.

David Juritz is travelling across 25 countries over the next four-and-a-half months, after setting off from a London Tube station on Saturday. The 60,000 mile trip, called Round the World and Bach, will be paid for by the money he earns from passers-by.

Any further money raised will be donated to a music charity that helps people in the developing world.

Mr Juritz, who was a soloist with the London Mozart Players in the 2006 BBC Promenade Concerts, will be playing Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin on his journey.

He will be seeking sponsorship for a new fund, Musequality, which is intended to support communal music projects in poor areas.

He said he thought of the idea last summer and will have to raise money for all his flights, accommodation and food for his journey, which will include Germany, Sweden, India, Australia and Mexico before ending in America in October.

"I was thinking about the music of JS Bach, which is perhaps the biggest challenge for any violinist," he explained. "Instead of thinking of concert halls it reminded me of my student days when I used to busk to earn money."

Mr Juritz, who is from South Africa, said the idea of his trip came "after a couple of minutes of thought."

He added: "Maybe if I thought about it a bit longer now I wouldn't be doing it now. I've been practising a little bit on audiences and they've been incredibly generous, so if that was an indicator it's going to be dead easy. But even more difficult is getting through the red tape, which is quite considerable."

His first task was to raise enough money to afford a ticket for the Underground to begin his journey from Turnham Green Tube station for a trip to Paris.

Naked cycle ride

About 700 cyclists in various states of undress have cycled through central London in another leg of the World Naked Bike Ride.

The naked cyclists - and others with strategically-placed body paint, sticky tape or bum bags - were highlighting the damage caused by car dependency.

They were also promoting the environmental benefits of cycling.

Earlier on Saturday, more than 200 naked cyclists rode through Brighton and Hove in East Sussex.

The World Naked Bike Ride is now in its fourth year with more than 60 cities participating in 2007.

The London leg began at Hyde Park and finished in Wellington Arch, a route of about six miles.

Dead ? I'm feeling a bit better now

Declared dead by doctors, then rescued from the mortuary, Freddie Maguire has made such a strong recovery that he has been nicknamed Jesus Christ.

Mr Maguire, 47, from Dublin’s north inner city, was pronounced dead by doctors at the Mater Hospital after they fought for 30 minutes to save his life on Easter Day.

Mr Maguire, who has learning difficulties, was being treated for a separate condition when he suffered a heart attack. He was moved to the intensive care unit and treated by a team of medical staff, who pronounced him dead.

Mr Maguire’s relatives were coming to terms with their loss when they were informed that he was, in fact, alive. A member of staff saw his hand move as he was about to be put into a mortuary refrigerator.

Frances Maguire, his aunt, said: “He’s all right now and he’s back the way he was before this terrible thing took place.

“His recovery was very slow at first and he’s still on medication, but he’s back home living with his uncle and he visits me every night. The doctors all pronounced him dead. It’s disgraceful and very upsetting. I don’t think they should get away with it.” Friends and neighbours have dubbed Mr Maguire Jesus Christ because of his seemingly miraculous resurrection at Easter.

Mrs Maguire was in the Mater Hospital herself receiving medical attention when the incident occurred.

She said: “We’re a very close family. I was in the hospital at the time and I wanted to check myself out of there after it, but the family said it would be no good.”

According to the Evening Herald newspaper, Mr Maguire’s brothers travelled over from England immediately when told of his death and funeral arrangements were underway.

“My granddaughter came up to me that night when I was outside having a smoke and she said, ‘Freddie is alive’. I nearly choked,” Mrs Maguire said. “I didn’t believe her until I saw him with my own eyes. They were about to put him into an ice box. Imagine if they had. Thank God that nurse saw his hand moving. I tell you, when I die I want to be buried with a mobile phone. And they better make sure I’m dead.”

Mrs Maguire described her cousin as “a lovely person” and “a real hard grafter”.

Jus' checkin'

Anyone seen our keys ?

Poland's 1,200 troops assigned to NATO forces in Afghanistan will not achieve full combat readiness for several weeks due to stolen vehicle keys, its Defence Ministry says.

"We had been told a 10 per cent theft rate was likely in convoys brought in from Pakistan, but we had not expected the spare car keys to go missing," Defence Ministry spokesman Jaroslaw Rybak told news channel TVN24.

"We shall have to send away for spares, so it may take from several days to several weeks for our contingent to become combat ready."

Media reports say Polish troops taking part in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan have been assigned to patrol the mountainous border area with Pakistan to search for Taliban guerrilla activity.

The military vehicles

Pantyhose saved robber

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Des Moines police said pantyhose worn by a robber saved his life Thursday morning.

Police said Matthew Frederick Tandy, 33, robbed a Walgreens at 104 E. Euclid Ave. dressed as a woman.

Police said an officer pursued Tandy, who was wielding a knife.

Police said that when Tandy lunged at the officer, the officer nearly fired his gun, but Tandy's pantyhose got caught on a chicken wire fence.

Police charged Tandy with robbery and harassment of a police officer.

World Naked Bike Ride

Nude cyclists are expected to ride through the streets of cities around the world Saturday, to highlight the vulnerability of cyclists on the road and protest against oil dependency, organisers said.

London, Paris, Madrid, Montreal and Cape Town are among the cities taking part in the World Naked Bike Ride which bills itself as the "craziest, wildest, most insane event of the year".

"We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians," organisers said on their Internet site.

The site said the slogan dress code for the event, which has been held each year since 2004, is "as bare as you dare".

"You decide what you are comfortable with. No one is excluded or discriminated against based on levels of clothing, bodypaint, or anything else for that matter," it said.

Among the other cities taking part are Mexico City, Prague and Washington and Barcelona, one of 12 cities participating in Spain, the most of any European country.

Wireless energy

US researchers have successfully tested an experimental system to deliver power to devices without the need for wires.

The setup, reported in the journal Science, made a 60W light bulb glow from a distance of 2m (7ft).

WiTricity, as it is called, exploits simple physics and could be adapted to charge other devices such as laptops.

"There is nothing in this that would have prevented them inventing this 10 or even 20 years ago," commented Professor Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London who has seen the experiments. "But I think there is an issue of time. In the last few years we have seen an exponential growth of mobile devices that need power. The power cable is the last wire to be cut in a wireless connection."

The researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who carried out the work outlined a similar theoretical setup in 2006, but this is the first time that it has been shown to work.

The experimental setup consisted of two 60cm (2ft) diameter copper coils, a transmitter attached to a power source and a receiver placed 2m (7ft) away and attached to a light bulb.

With the power switched on at the transmitter, the bulb would light up despite there being no physical connection between the two.

Measurements showed that the setup could transfer energy with 40% efficiency across the gap.

The bulb was even made to glow when obstructions such as wood, metal and electronic devices were placed between the two coils.

"These results are encouraging. The numbers are not far from where you would want for this to be useful," said Professor Soljacic.

Green blooded

A team of Canadian surgeons got a shock when the patient they were operating on began shedding dark greenish-black blood, the Lancet reports.

The man emulated Star Trek's Mr Spock - the Enterprise's science officer who supposedly had green Vulcan blood. In this case, the unusual colour of the 42-year-old's blood was down to the migraine medication he was taking.

The man's leg surgery went ahead successfully and his blood returned to normal once he eased off the drug.

The patient had been taking large doses of sumatriptan - 200 milligrams a day. This had caused a rare condition called sulfhaemoglobinaemia, where sulphur is incorporated into the oxygen-carrying compound haemoglobin in red blood cells.

Describing the case in The Lancet, the doctors led by Dr Alana Flexman from St Paul's Hospital in Vancouver wrote: "The patient recovered uneventfully, and stopped taking sumatriptan after discharge.

"When seen five weeks after his last dose, he was found to have no sulfhaemoglobin in his blood."

The man had needed urgent surgery because he had developed a dangerous condition in his legs after falling asleep in a sitting position.

Cliff rids yobs

If you want to get rid of troublemaking youths, play them some Cliff Richard songs, a funfair has found.

According to bosses from Carter's Steam Fair, playing tracks such as Living Doll by the 66-year-old pop veteran on all their rides was enough to scare off some "hoodies" and other troublemakers who had descended on the fair last Saturday in north London.

"It was amazing, just like a scene from (the film) Mars Attacks when the aliens were driven away by the sounds of Slim Whitman,'" said the fair's Seth Carter.

"From now on if we do have any trouble we have found the perfect deterrent and it comes in the shape of the Peter Pan of Pop.

"Who needs ASBOs when we've got our Cliff Richard records?"

Too funny to report

Covington, Louisiana. -- Police are searching for a naked peeping Tom seen prowling in only a ski mask, but they say people don't take him seriously enough to report him.

"Some people just think he is funny. You know, a guy running around in a ski mask and nothing else. People just think that's funny," Covington police Lt. Jack West said.

Police believe he's the same man occasionally spotted doing the same thing last year, West said. This time, though, he reportedly made sexual comments — something he didn't do during last year, police said.

Doyouthinkhesaurus?

A Dryosaurus dinosaur nonchalantly walks across a busy inner city intersection outside the Australian Museum in Sydney on Thursday.

The human-operated puppet of the 150 million year old herbivorous beast surfaced from the museum on a traffic stopping stroll around Sydney’s Hyde Park promoting an upcoming live theatre performance.

The 12 day performance is entitled Gondwana — Land of the Giants!

Experience Australia’s astounding prehistoric creatures and land brought to life with full body puppets. Discover giant dinosaurs, insects, indigenous plants, and mammals accompanied by evocative soundscapes, and large projections.

Enjoy this awe-inspiring journey with land masses that change shape and flesh-eating dinosaurs nesting, feeding and fighting for survival. Performed by the world acclaimed Erth Theatre Company and based on scientific understandings of Australia’s origins. This atmospheric theatre performance promises to be a thrill seeking journey.

The performance starts Monday July 2 2007 through to Friday July 13 2007. Check out the museum’s website for further details.