How old is one ?

The Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, invited 99 guests to Buckingham Palace in London on Wednesday, and she didn't need to ask anyone's age.

All shared the Queen's birth date - 21 April 1926.

The Queen laid on a three-course meal in the grand Palace Ballroom for 70 women and 29 men who, like her, will celebrate their 80th birthday on Friday.The main course of filet de boeuf bordelaise being served on a royal silver dinner service normally reserved for state banquets.

The guests were to dine around 20 tables inside the royal home, with some seated next to the Queen or her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.

They were also be invited to a drink in the palace's Picture Gallery before lunch.

Speaking at the start of their special birthday lunch, the Queen welcomed her "twins," and wished them a happy birthday.

"Thank you for coming today and I hope all of you, and all those of you who are my exact twins, will make the most of our special day on Friday. A happy birthday to all," she said.

She insisted they, her included, should give thanks for their "health," "happiness," the "support they receive from our families and friends," "wonderful memories" and the "excitement that each new day brings."

The banquet guests were nominated by themselves or relatives, and were selected in a ballot earlier in the year.
John Forrester, who had travelled from Australia, was rewarded with a seat next to the Queen at the lunch. He described her as the "most natural person in the world", adding that she would "endear herself to anybody and everybody".

"You look back over your life and say 'when have I bettered it?' Well, when I got married, when I had kids, yes, but beyond that this has to be the top of the tree."

The Queen will spend her 80th birthday at Windsor Castle, where Prince Charles will host a family dinner.

G'day to Indian Techs !

Call center workers in India are having nervous breakdowns after being abused by fed-up Australians – but they aren't getting much sympathy.

Millions of people are employed in India's fast-growing call-center industry, famous for maddening calls at dinner time in Australia.

For some of the workers, abuse and overnight working hours are contributing to stress, sleeping disorders, fatigue and migraines.

A survey of Mumbai call centers found most call-center workers suffer from burn-out stress syndrome.

The abuse included racial taunts, the Global South Research Group survey found.

"Racial abuse by foreign customers is a job hazard that most employees have to deal with," a report on the survey says.

"The US and Australia are the worst abusers," said Vino Shetty, from his Young Professionals Collective office in Mumbai.

"Australian accents – especially in working-class areas – are very difficult to understand.

"The Australians then get frustrated because they are not being understood and when they realise the call is from India their anger gets worse.

"They can feel that jobs are being taken away from Australians and if they recently have been out of a job themselves, the abuse escalates," he said.

But Queensland Consumers' Association spokeswoman Cherie Dalley said Australians were reacting to phone calls because they were at "ridiculous" times.

"Australians are tired of having their privacy interrupted by people trying to sell them things they didn't want in the first place," she said.

James Organ, director of Australian research organisation Callcentres.net, said "lots of poor innocent Indian workers" were abused regularly by Australians.

"Some companies are regretting outsourcing this business to India because of the damage it does to their products' reputation," he said.

"Its a cultural thing – the moment an Australian suspects the call is coming from India they can get uptight.

"Yet in the UK, where they are used to interacting with Indian people, there's not so much negative reaction."

Mr Organ's group estimates Indian call centers account for 50 million calls to Australian homes each year – one fifth of the total telemarketing calls made. "Everyone has a story of how they were called by someone in Mumbai," he said.

Outsourcing of telemarketing and other business began about seven years ago when companies found it was cheaper to hire people in India, the Philippines and Malaysia to sell mobile phone plans, financial services, insurance and credit cards.


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9 x life + 109 years ban

The UK's worst driver was being bars last night after being banned from the roads for nine lifetimes plus 109 years.

John Williamson, 40, was locked up for 14 months yesterday after he admitted defying eight previous life bans for drinking and driving.

In 2000, Williamson was branded the worst driver "in Scotland, if not the UK", after earning his sixth life ban.

At the time, he claimed he only got behind the wheel when he was drunk.

He also claimed he had never caused an accident - shortly before smashing into a police car.

At Perth Sheriff Court yesterday, Williamson was banned for life for the ninth time after he admitted driving while disqualified and with no insurance.

He was banned for another 10 years when he admitted failing to give a breath sample to police - bringing his running total to 109 years on top of the life bans.

After being arrested in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, in January, Williamson spat on civilian police worker Stephen Ritchie.

Fiscal depute Anne Hart told the court: "The police got information that he was driving under the influence. They saw the accused driving very slowly. He was seen to pull into a parking area. They recognised the accused as a disqualified driver. The vehicle was stationary and he was locked within it.Access to the driver was gained and he was informed he was under arrest. There was a strong smell of alcohol from him."

Solicitor Steve Lafferty, defending, said: "It is fair to say he has a shocking record in relation to traffic offences. He accepts he drove his father's car. He accepts he ought not to have entered the vehicle. He has a somewhat slender recollection of matters."

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Williamson: "You have an appalling record."

Williamson was last jailed in 2004 after WPC Melanie Norrie had to leap to safety as he drunkenly crashed into her car.

Even then he refused to stop and led officers on a two-mile chase through the centre of Blairgowrie.

Rubgy fans lose city ?

An exodus of rugby fans from Limerick in Ireland threatens its status as a city, and the European funding that goes with it, when a population census is taken Sunday.

Diarmuid Scully, mayor of Limerick in western Ireland, told Reuters as many as 20,000 fans could follow the regional team Munster to Dublin Sunday for the Heineken Cup semi-final against Leinster.

Many could stay on to celebrate -- or to drown their sorrows -- knocking Limerick's population of 54,000 below a crucial threshold of 50,000, he added.

"At the time April 23 was picked, it probably seemed like a quiet night," he told Reuters. "Unfortunately for Limerick people, quite a lot of us won't be at home that night. Quite a number would stay on to celebrate if it's a Munster victory."

Scully called on Limerick rugby fans to return home after the match.

"Should the population drop below 50,000, then Limerick wouldn't be considered a city anymore by European standards, and we'd actually lose out in terms of European funding," he added.

Scully said census rules allowed forms to be completed on the following Monday morning, and he called on census officials to be lenient.

"I'm asking for a flexible interpretation of the morning -- let morning stretch throughout the day," he said. "Let it stretch until midnight."

Wacky Racers

A pair of real-life wacky racers from Sheffield are preparing to do an 8,000 mile car race in a 10-year-old Nissan Micra in aid of charity.

The daring junior doctors will make the mad dash from London to Mongolia in late July with 200 other cars as part of the Mongol Rally - the world's most extreme car challenge.
And in the same tradition of cartoon characters Dick Dastardly and Muttley, not only do the rules of the rally state that no car may have an engine over one litre, but there is no detailed route to follow or a support team on hand if - or rather when - things go a bit wrong.
But for team 'Cannonball Hun' - with Andrew the 'Atilla' Hogg and James the 'Hun' Hatcher - the uncertainty of travelling across one quarter of the earth's surface in a car with 140,000 miles already on the clock is all part of the appeal.
"I thought it might be a good adventure," said 26-year-old Andrew, from Crookes.
"I wanted to do something a bit different before I have to settle down. It will be something to tell my grandkids and hopefully we can raise lots of money."
The friends, who both studied medicine at Sheffield University, have not yet finalised their route and there is some disagreement whether they want to risk driving through Iran.
While Andrew thinks it is probably not the best time to visit, James, also 26, said he thought it might be fun.
"I quite fancy Iran but the southern route is a bit dodgy," he said.
But whether the car makes it as far as that is questionable.
"This is a highly toned, well oiled machine," said Andrew.
"But it has got a little bit of rust and does need a bit of work. The fan has to be fixed and we need some all-terrain tyres and spotlights put on, as the countries we will be going through will put the car through a lot of stress through deserts, forests and mountains.
"Half the fun is breaking down and meeting people in the process. If your car doesn't break down something has gone wrong!
"When you do, you just hire a couple of camels and carry on! The whole purpose of the rally is to provide a bit of a challenge."
And the pair are doing away with modern technology.
"We're not taking satellite navigation equipment," said James, from Broomhill.
"It's illegal in Russia, and it would feel like cheating. But I'm definitely going to buy a map and compass even though the map will be useless once we get into Mongolia and head for the capital, Ulaan Baatar. Maps in Mongolia are notorious for not tallying with the actual roads - it's best to ask a local.
"I'm going to get key phrases written out in Russian and practice my universal sign language.
"I'm slightly apprehensive but pretty damn excited and its in aid of good causes."
The pair are hoping to raise more than £1,000 to be split between children's, agricultural and wildlife charities.
Anyone who would like to act as a sponsor or make a donation of money, car parts, camping equipment or raffle prizes should contact team Cannonball Hun by emailing AndrewHogg@doctors.org.uk.

Daiquiri for kids

UK _ A FURIOUS Sheffield mum has slammed a restaurant after her six-year-old son became ill when he accidentally drank an alcoholic cocktail.
Kent Di-Nitto was sick and dizzy after drinking most of what he thought was a booze-free Strawberry Daiquiri from the children's drinks menu at Damon's Restaurant, in Sevenairs Road, Beighton.
Today angry mum Paula told The Star: "If my son had been two years old, not six, then he could be dead.
"The problem is the children's cocktails have the same name as those for adults. It's ridiculous. They should change the name of the children's cocktails, otherwise this could happen again and the consequences could be even worse."
Kent became ill minutes after finishing the drink which was bought by a 12-year-old friend during his mum's 35th birthday meal.
The terrified adults in the party sipped the cocktail to check for booze and demanded bread and water from the waitress to soak up the alcohol.
Paula, from Woodhouse, even phoned the police but was told the restaurant hadn't committed a criminal offence because Kent hadn't physically bought the drink and it was down to human error. She later phoned NHS Direct, who told her to check Kent regularly during the night. He has now made a full recovery.
Paula said: "We used to go to the restaurant quite a lot but we won't be going back now."
Damon's Restaurant manager Lee Foulston said: "It was a mistake on behalf of the person who took the order and we are investigating the matter.
"The drink was originally bought by a 12-year-old girl but she didn't like the taste and, for whatever reason, it was given to the six-year-old.
"The children's cocktails are clearly marked with the word 'Virgin' so we would argue that the adults' and children's drinks do not have the same name."

Shorts robbery

Fairfield, California - A man wearing only black undershorts robbed a convenience store early Tuesday, Fairfield police said.

Officials said the man entered the 7-Eleven store at 1231 Tabor Ave. at around 12:30 a.m.He walked behind the counter and demanded that the clerk open the register, police said. The robber took cash and left the store.

The robber was last seen walking south toward Solano Mall. The area was searched, but police could not find the bandit.The robber was also described as Hispanic, about 30 years old and having a ponytail and light mustache.

Duck ban

DUCKS have been banned from a village duck pond.The 16 ducks have been branded pests after killing off other wildlife in the pond.

They have been allowed to stay to rear their chicks this spring, but will then be rounded up and "relocated".

But villagers claim the ducks are a local attraction and children love to go to the pond every day to throw them bread.

Andrew Wigley-Jones, 37, said, "My three-year-old daughter Sophie loves going to see the ducks. They are part of the character of the village and they bring the community together.

"I have met lots of other parents while our children are feeding the ducks."

The mallards were given as a gift to the village of Creigiau, near Cardiff, years ago, and have since bred with wild ducks.

Every spring the proud parent birds can be seen waddling around the pond with their ducklings trailing behind them.

But the community council says the pond is now overrun with ducks, who have munched through all the other wildlife, including frogspawn.

Secretary to the community council Alec Davies said, "There are almost no frogs, newts and sticklebacks in the pond this year. The ducks are destroying the habitat and we have made a decision to relocate them.

"Some children would be distressed, but the greater good would be served."

The ducks will be relocated to a nearby lake later this summer.

Thanks for 25 years service ... you're sacked !

Shirley Ogden was told she was being fired minutes after getting a gold watch for 25 years of loyal service.

Shirley was presented with the gift by managing director Steven Luddington. He praised her as a hard-working and valuable member of staff known for her flexibility.

But with the applause of her colleagues still ringing in her ears, she was then called into Mr Luddington’s office and told she was one of twelve workers on a redundancy list.

And to add insult to injury she learnt that she wasn’t even being considered for another in-house post that was being offered to other staff.

On her redundancy score-card she had been marked down for not being flexible enough. The accounts administrator wept when she finally got home with the gold watch and photos of her presentation in one hand and P45 in the other.

Shirley, 49, said: “I can’t believe how shabbily I have been treated. The way Mr Luddington behaved is exactly like David Brent in The Office. One minute they were giving me a lovely speech telling me what a valued member of the team I was, how loyal, hard-working and flexible I am and how much I’ve achieved in my 25 years of employment.

“And the next they were announcing redundancies with my name on the list. It’s a disgrace.” Shirley, a grandmother with two grown-up children, worked for Hilding Anders UK which owns the Slumberland bedding brand.

The firm’s motto is: “All the support you need — all the comfort you deserve.”

Caged writing

A playwright in search of inspiration for a drama about pandas has spent much of the last week in a cage in a zoo in northern France.

Norbert Aboudarham, 57, has spent 10 hours a day since Thursday in a cage in Amiens Zoo writing The Panda's Flea.

He has had with raccoons, red pandas and wolves, among other fauna, for neighbours.

His work is the third in a series about animals which he began in 2002.

Aboudarham's cage is furnished with a bale of straw and a log on which he perches. He does, however, have a laptop computer hooked up to a mobile phone.

He declines to talk to the public and communicates by way of messages passed through the bars.

He says to write "about the universe, you have to put yourself in a cage smaller than the universe".

"This experiment magnifies characteristics. For example aggressive visitors become a bit more irascible," he said. "I am exhausted because I get a lot of requests. It is much more tiring than I thought."

According to Christine Morrier of Amiens Zoo, a former director of a cultural centre, the experiment is a way of "questioning man about his belonging to nature".

"For the animals it makes no difference at all, In any case they are used to the people who look after them," she said.

She says that Aboudarham, whose stint ends Thursday, has drawn many sightseers.

Why did we lose ? Now don't lie..

Players at a Romanian first division soccer club will be forced to take lie detector tests after losing two matches.

Last week National Bucharest surprisingly lost 1-0 at home against Vaslui and 2-0 at Jiul Petrosani to dent their chances of playing in European competition next season.

"It's about a moral audit which will allow our players to show they played honestly against Vaslui and Petrosani," the club's main shareholder Constantin Iacov said.

"I think it's normal to check your employees from time to time," he added.

"I'll be the first to undergo the polygraph test and the team's coaches soon after me."

On the road again

A woman in northern Portugal has given birth for the second time while being driven to a hospital delivery room, a daily newspaper reports.

The Jornal de Noticias says Maria Duarte, 35, was on her way to a hospital in the city of Vila Real, some 400 kilometres north-east of Lisbon, when she went into labour in an emergency services vehicle.

The vehicle parked on the side of the highway and she then gave birth to a healthy 2.5 kilogram girl with the aid of a doctor, nurse and two young volunteer firefighters who were accompanying her.

"I was afraid she would die. I was even afraid to push," Ms Duarte told the newspaper.

She says that her 10-year-old daughter, Silvia, was born prematurely under similar circumstances.

"I was leaving my home village in my brother's car and she was born, there was no time for anything," she said.

All shook up

Australia _ The organisers of the Parkes Elvis Festival in the central west of NSW are seeking legal advice about changes to the rules surrounding Elvis Presley impersonators.

An American billionaire who owns the rights to the Elvis name and likeness is working to stop "unauthorised" impersonators as part of a plan to open a show and exhibit in Las Vegas dedicated to 'the king'.

More than 5,000 people travel to Parkes each year to see hundreds of Elvis look-a-likes and celebrate his music.

The festival's Monique Kronk says very few details about the shake-up are known but organisers want to ensure it will not threaten the event.

"We've got to discuss not just how it affects the festival itself but ... who are coming in and we don't know quite yet enough about what they are planning to change," she said.

"But obviously we'll have to speak to Elvis Presley Enterprises and maybe we can negotiate some sort of licence that will cover for the whole festival - festival goers coming - we don't know enough yet about the situation."

Pensioner's paint pain

A pensioner and RAF veteran was thrown off a city bus because he was carrying a tin of paint.

Grandad Brian Heale, 73, boarded a No 9 Cardiff Bus on Penarth Road at 9am yesterday with a can of water-based emulsion he had just bought from MA Jones paint store.

He was hoping to travel just two stops, to catch another bus to a friend's house to do some decorating for him. But as he sat down, the driver told him carrying paint might be against company regulations and after a call to head office, Mr Heale was told he had to get off.

Suffering shortness of breath after two heart attacks and unable to make the 20-minute walk to his friend's house in Leckwith, he had to go to a local cafe and get a lift from the manager.

Mr Heale has now branded the ruling 'crazy'.

'It's absolutely hysterical - you won't be able to take a wet umbrella on a bus in case it drips water on the floor next,' said Mr Heale, of Clive Street, Grangetown, a former self-employed decorator, who served with the RAF for 20 years.

'That could be a hazard. I don't understand why water-based emulsion is banned. It isn't a fire hazard. It can be washed away if it's spilled.

'I bought it at 9am and wanted to get the bus to Clare Road to catch another bus to my friend's house in Langham Way, Leckwith.

'I got on and sat down then the bus driver said, 'Excuse me, you're carrying paint, I don't think you can come on with that, it's against regulations'.

'I thought he was joking but he parked the bus while he called head office. Then he told me carrying the paint doesn't meet their new guidelines and I had to get off.

'It was cold and had started to rain. I got off and went back to the Black and White cafe on Penarth Road and the manager gave me a lift.'I just think it's comical. I've carried paint on the buses many times.'

Cardiff Bus said paint was classed as a hazardous article under national public transport guidelines as it could spill and cause accidents. It must be sealed in a pot and in a bag to be carried on buses.

A Cardiff Bus spokesperson said: 'The safety of our passengers is our number one priority which is why the company takes regulations on health and safety very seriously and attempts at all times to adhere to the regulations. However, the company does accept that in certain circumstances more flexibility needs to be displayed and we apologise to the gentleman involved for the obvious inconvenience that this incident caused.'

What's banned on the buses? Cardiff Bus says items classed as hazardous articles which must not be carried on public service vehicles under national guidelines include:

Panes of glass

Gas cylinders

Guns

Open bladed tools

Swords

Petrol

Paraffin

Paint - unless it is carried in two containers ie in a sealed pot and a bag, and is not left unattended on a parcel shelf where it could slide and tip, burst open and spread across the floor.

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US woman, 55, gives birth to three grandchildren for daughter

WASHINGTON - A 55-year-old American woman gave birth in Richmond, Virginia, to three genetic baby grandchildren, for her adult daughter who was unable, hospital officials said.

Tina Cade had volunteered to have the children for her daughter Camille Hammond, 29, who is unable to have children due to medical reasons. Father Jason Hammond was reported to be delighted with the new additions to the family.

Doctors in May implanted three embryos, formed from Camille's eggs and Jason's sperm, into Tina. The babies, two boys and a girl, were born by Caesarian section.

"This is our Christmas blessing, our New Year's blessing," Camille said.

"Really, the most wonderful gift we've ever received in our entire lives and probably that we'll ever receive, and we are just so grateful to mother, as well as to God, for this, this huge, huge blessing," she added.

The babies, who had been due in mid-February, have been placed in a neo-natal wing of the hospital.

A prickly hangover solution

Researchers at the University of New Orleans say you can forget drinking gallons of water or wolfing down bacon and eggs to cure that hangover.

Apparently the latest answer is to use the skin of the prickly pear cactus.

It significantly reduces the body's inflammatory reaction to alcohol, thereby reducing the severity of hangover symptoms such as headache and nausea, they say.

Hungry superheroes fall out

Police were called to a burger van in the early hours of Christmas Day after a disturbance broke out between Spiderman, Superman and Batman.

It is believed the argument between the three men in fancy dress was over a shortage of food at the fast-food van on the A28 Wincheap, Canterbury.

A 23-year-old man was reported to have suffered facial injuries in the incident.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Spiderman, Superman and Batman were involved in a minor altercation at 12.32am on Wincheap on Christmas Day. The injured party declined to take it any further."

Dog drives truck into store

Michael Henson left the car parts store with more problems than when he arrived. For that, he can thank his dog.

Henson, whose truck had been experiencing a sticking throttle, left his dog in the pick-up truck when he went into the O'Reilly Auto Parts store in Springdale, Arkansas.

"He'd left the truck running -- I guess to show the people at O'Reilly's -- and the dog jumped over and knocked the truck into gear," police Sgt. Billy Turnbough said.

The truck raced into the building, stunning Hennson and clerk Josh Hopper. No one - or the dog - was hurt in the incident.

Christmas snub leads to arson

A man angry that he got no presents for Christmas burned down his parents' house early the next morning.

Steven Murray, 21, was charged with arson and risking a catastrophe in the blaze that broke out early on Sunday in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. No one was injured.

Police said Murray had himself committed to a hospital on Christmas Day, but then signed himself out and walked eight miles home.

Later he told police he saw the flames in the distance. But officers said his jacket smelled of smoke and they found a lighter in his pocket and a petrol can near the front door.

`Elvis water` auctioned for £230

Don't get all shook up, or be a hard-headed woman, or even return to sender... Just three tablespoons of water from a cup once used by Elvis Presley have fetched £237 on eBay.

After seeing a cheese sandwich with a supposed image of the Virgin Mary go for £14,600, Wade Jones, 40, of Belmont, North Carolina, said he decided to sell the Elvis "memorabilia".

Jones, who got the cup after a 1977 Elvis show in Charlotte and stored it in his freezer, said the winning bidder only got the water, because he was "kind of attached to the cup".

Stolen car found - after 23 years

Terry and Robin Smith from Greenville, South Carolina, received a fantastic Christmas present - a car they last saw 23 years ago.

The vintage 1963 Ford Fairlane finally turned up 2,600 miles away in Sacramento. California Highway Patrol officers called the couple to tell them authorities had recovered the vehicle.

"What a wonderful gift at Christmas time - after 23 years to receive news that they`d found our car," said Mrs Smith, who got it as a wedding present from her parents.

Caught Pine handed

Pine cones lead police to burglar

It didn't take Winnipeg police long to solve the great Christmas tree heist - a trail of pine cones from the scene of the crime led directly to a suspect's living room.

"It's got to be the dumbest crime of the century," apartment caretaker Cindy Peterson said Wednesday. "You could see where they dragged it into the house."

The Yuletide theft happened early on December 23 when someone cut down an 5.5-metre (18-foot) blue spruce from in front of Peterson's apartment building.

The tree wasn't sawed at the base of the trunk, but about 2 metres up.

Peterson said she only noticed the tree had been lopped off when a neighbour pointed it out.

She went to investigate and found a small cedar tree apparently discarded in favour of the larger spruce. A trail of pine cones, needles and broken limbs led directly to a residence across the street.

Police questioned the 22-year-old occupant, who told them he had bought the tree from an unknown door-to-door tree salesman for $5 (£2.60).

The man was charged with possession of stolen goods and released on a promise to appear in court at a later date.

Granny, 105, has first doctor visit

A 105-year-old Bosnian grandmother has been treated by a doctor for the first time in her life, a Bosnian news agency reported.

Milja Markovic slipped and fell in her house in a remote mountain village near Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia earlier this week and broke her leg, her son Momir told Srna news agency. He said his mother had never been ill in her life.

Markovic was not even registered in the files of the local hospital in Srebrenica, located some 43 miles north-east of Sarajevo.

Dad wins right to see daughter - on web cam

A Chilean man living in France has won the right to see his daughter - on a webcam.

Pablo Rodriguez Gonzales's nine-year-old daughter lives in Santiago with her mother, Las Ultimas Noticias online reports.

She had not seen her father since he went to France to study and stopped paying her child support.

But lawyer Rafael Tarud asked a court to allow his client to see his daughter on specific days and times over the internet.

The 5th Court of Appeals in Santiago ruled in favour of Mr Gonzales on the condition that he buy his daughter a computer and a webcam.

Mr Tarud said: "We have broken a barrier. It shows that the justice is becoming more human and applying modern concepts in the making of the law."

Mouse thief caught on CCTV

An Austrian firm that set up a CCTV system to catch a thief that had been stealing money found the culprit was a mouse.

The animal had been using the money to make its nest and developed a liking for 50-euro notes which it stole and chewed into tiny pieces once safely back in its lair.

Police had already interviewed staff at the Villach-based firm to try and catch the thief - that had struck dozens of times before management installed the video system.

A spokesman for the firm said: "Money was often left in the open although the room was locked, cash was still stolen. The video surveilance system recomended by the police was a last resort."

Blind car thief strikes again

Police have arrested Romania's blind car thief for stealing a car and crashing into a tree for the second time in one month.

But this time, Alin Prica, 24, managed to drive the stolen car 25 miles before crashing into a tree, reports Adevarul newspaper.

Prica allegedly stole the car with another blind pal and a sighted friend in the passenger seat telling him which direction to drive.

A police spokesman said: "He drove the car following instructions from his friend who could see.

"But again the journey ended with a crash. We were astonished for the second time in a month by this same man."

Earlier this month, Prica, from Izvoare, in southwest Romania, stole a car and managed to drive it for almost a mile by himself before smashing into a tree and knocking himself out.

He said at the time: "I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do anything I wanted - despite my handicap. I only crashed because I was not sure of the way home."

Police said they would not press charges against the two teenagers who helped but have taken Prica in for questioning.

Schoolboy's sketch nabs burglar

A sketch of a burglar drawn by an 11-year-old schoolboy was so good it allowed Austrian police to catch the thief less than an hour later.

Youngster Fabian Aigner spotted the thief sneaking around the school building in Oberturm, Salzburg, when he returned to his classroom after school to pick up a bicycle light he had left behind.

He said: "The man's pockets were so full, it looked like he had a lot in them. I looked him in the eye for a couple of seconds and then he was gone. He just walked off but then he suddenly sped up and ran off.

"I thought that was strange and decided he must have taken something and called police, then drew the sketch while I was waiting."

Officers arrested an unnamed 42-year-old man in nearby Braunau.

Local police Chief Hannes Moser said: "Fabian drew all the man's important characteristics. It's an excellent effort considering he only saw the face for a short moment."

Fabian's mother Bertha Aigner said she was very proud of her little boy.

"I wouldn't exactly call him artistic but he likes to draw and he is very precise. Fabian has an inquiring mind and learns quickly. He is interested in everything that goes on around him," she said.

Young Fabian has been the focus of attention at the school over the past few days but said: "I don't feel like a hero. I just did what I thought I should."

Jumping off cliffs is bad for you sign

Call for warning signs at cliff after death

An Aniseed Valley resident is calling for a fence and warning signs to be placed at the cliff where a Nelson man jumped more than 20m to his death at a popular swimming hole on Sunday.

Christopher Arthur Elliott, 20, died after he jumped off the cliff during a swimming trip with friends and landed awkwardly in the water. The accident happened about 3.30pm at Busch Reserve, 24km southwest of Nelson.

Constable Marty Tutton of Richmond police said Mr Elliott surfaced after his jump but then slipped under. He was quickly pulled from the water.

However, efforts by friends and ambulance officers to resuscitate him failed and he died at the scene, Mr Tutton said.

Before he jumped, Mr Elliott had watched a friend jump safely from the cliff into the river.

Nelson Bays St John Ambulance district manager Hank Bader said he understood Mr Elliott had dog paddled for a few moments after surfacing, before sinking under the water.

He said it was not yet known exactly what had caused Mr Elliott's death.

Aniseed Valley resident Andrew Strange said he had written to the Tasman District Council last week with concerns about the reserve not complying with the Resource Management Act.

He was one of a group of residents who had help construct a walkway along the clifftop and had requested a fence be built around the area to stop people from jumping off it into the river below.

"They have been doing it for decades but it is only since the reserve was opened up that there has really been an issue," he said.

"Every summer young people come along and they have to jump out three metres to clear the rocks at the bottom."

Mr Strange said he had gone to the area yesterday after hearing emergency services arrive at the scene. He saw Mr Elliott's friends who were "very cut up" and shocked.

He did not know of any other accidents at the swimming hole, but said the council had already discussed putting up a fence along the cliff.

He said signs should also be put up warning of the dangers of jumping from the clifftop.

"They could still choose to ignore it, but at least we would have done our part," he said.

Tasman Mayor John Hurley said he could not comment on the accident as he was unfamiliar with the area.

However, he said in the past warning signs had been placed at other known jumping areas, such as the Motueka Bridge. Those signs had been smashed, demolished and ignored many times, he said.

"We need to look at what the issues are but there is a limit to how much you can protect people from themselves.

"The rivers in this area go up and down and change daily, hourly virtually, and people get unnecessarily caught out. This is certainly a tragedy."

Mr Elliott's death will be investigated by the coroner and a post-mortem was to be conducted on Monday.

Water Safety New Zealand executive director Alan Muir said the death was a timely reminder about the need for vigilance around the country's waterways this summer.

Mr Muir said swimmers should always consider a river's depth and ensure it had no snags before they entered.

People should exercise judgment before jumping from heights into rivers or waterways and remember that landing on water could still cause injury.

"Lots of young guys and girls use rivers from a recreation point of view and there is an inherent risk. Rivers are always changing.

"You're taking your life into your own hands - it's a matter of chance.

"All we can do is reflect and advise and hope that the message is picked up," he said.

61-year-old freshman goes back to school—

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Roger "Rusty" Martin is the oldest
freshman at Saint John's College in Annapolis -- by four decades.
The 61-year-old president of Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland,
Virginia, says he wants to study the freshman experience in a way
that would be impossible from the president's office.
At Randolph-Macon, Martin's one-on-one contact with students
took place mostly across a desk. But he wants to know what
first-year students are really like.
So he's taking a semester-long sabbatical from the top of the
academic food chain to dwell at the bottom.
After his semester at Saint John's ends, Martin plans to publish
some of his thoughts in one or more magazine articles.
He says his fellow freshmen are strikingly focused, keen to
study, averse to drugs and loyal to their parents.

Screensaver tackles spam websites

Net users are getting the chance to fight back against spam websites

Internet portal Lycos has made a screensaver that endlessly requests data from sites that sell the goods and services mentioned in spam e-mail.

Lycos hopes it will make the monthly bandwidth bills of spammers soar by keeping their servers running flat out.

The net firm estimates that if enough people sign up and download the tool, spammers could end up paying to send out terabytes of data.

Cost curve

"We've never really solved the big problem of spam which is that its so damn cheap and easy to do," said Malte Pollmann, spokesman for Lycos Europe.

"In the past we have built up the spam filtering systems for our users," he said, "but now we are going to go one step further."

Before now users have never had the chance to be a bit more offensive
Malte Pollmann, Lycos
"We've found a way to make it much higher cost for spammers by putting a load on their servers."

By getting thousands of people to download and use the screensaver, Lycos hopes to get spamming websites constantly running at almost full capacity.

Mr Pollmann said there was no intention to stop the spam websites working by subjecting them with too much data to cope with.

He said the screensaver had been carefully written to ensure that the amount of traffic it generated from each user did not overload the web.

"Every single user will contribute three to four megabytes per day," he said, "about one MP3 file."

But, he said, if enough people sign up spamming websites could be force to pay for gigabytes of traffic every single day.

Lycos did not want to use e-mail to fight back, said Mr Pollmann.

"That would be fighting one bad thing with another bad thing," he said.

Slow down

The sites being targeted are those mentioned in spam e-mail messages and which sell the goods and services on offer.

Typically these sites are different to those that used to send out spam e-mail and they typically only get a few thousand visitors per day.

The list of sites that the screensaver will target is taken from real-time blacklists generated by organisations such as Spamcop. To limit the chance of mistakes being made, Lycos is using people to ensure that the sites are selling spam goods.

As these sites rarely use advertising to offset hosting costs, the burden of high-bandwidth bills could make spam too expensive, said Mr Pollmann.

Sites will also slow down under the weight of data requests. Early results show that response times of some sites have deteriorated by up to 85%.

Users do not have to be registered users of Lycos to download and use the screensaver.

While working, the screensaver shows the websites that are being bothered with requests for data.

The screensaver is due to be launched across Europe on 1 December and before now has only been trialled in Sweden.

Despite the soft launch, Mr Pollmann said that the screensaver had been downloaded more than 20,000 times in the last four days.

"There's a huge user demand to not only filter spam day-by-day but to do something more," he said "Before now users have never had the chance to be a bit more offensive."

Americans don't know where Nauru is or anywhere else !

NEW YORK (Reuters) - America may dominate the world in sports and culture but in one arena where size doesn't matter, the "Geography Olympics," the United States was 88th behind minnows such as Madagascar and the Marshall Islands.

More than 46,000 Americans have taken part in this online geography competition started by a man with a mission: Roger Andresen, who quit his job as a fiber optic engineer two years ago when he realized most Americans have never heard of Nauru and don't know Cameroon is in Africa.

Working from his home in Georgia -- the U.S. state, not the country -- he created a jigsaw puzzle with pieces shaped like the countries of the world and launched what he calls the "world's biggest ongoing geography puzzle" on the Web.

Players have 200 seconds to locate 10 randomly selected countries on a map of the world with the names blanked out.

The site www.geographyolympics.com has attracted more than 300,000 players from 179 countries so far. National rankings fluctuate throughout the day depending on the latest scores.

Topping the leader board at one point on Friday were players from Trinidad and Tobago, the Philippines and Madagascar -- three countries that won a single bronze medal among them at this year's Olympics. The United States won the most medals --103.

Among U.S. states, New Mexico led the board followed by South Carolina and Idaho. South Dakota, Maine and Arkansas were last.

"Geography is just a building block for understanding what's going on in the world," said Andresen, whose family includes Christian missionaries and who has traveled to 44 countries.

"Being the world's superpower we should be informed voters," he said. "Sitting back and not worrying about these things is terrible, and it might be why the rest of the world doesn't care for us."

The best players tend to find seven of 10 locations, he said. Americans' average score is around 5.7 out of 10.

Norway and Sweden are big players, with more than 50,000 participants each, though not very successful in 84th and 173nd place respectively.

"That's what happens when thousands of people join in (the game) from new countries," Andresen said. "Initially they're terrible, they bring down the country."

Belgium and Italy are consistently high scorers. The north Pacific atolls of the Marshall Islands were doing well in 5th place. Last place was occupied by Cambodia with an average of four out of 10 but only 253 participants.

For those who don't know, Nauru is a small island in the South Pacific.

Trademark shoes end Thai criminal's crime spree: police

BANGKOK (AFP) - A suspected murderer and serial burglar who never changed his shoes has been caught by vigilant Thai police after his footwear made their most-wanted list, police said.
Ruengchai Plongthongland, 33, was arrested Friday carrying two pistols after a policeman spotted his shoes as the man allegedly scouted for houses to rob in the small northeastern town of Poklang, said a local police spokesman.

"Police have been tracking him for a long time by using the only lead they had, which was his footprints," Police Captain Nattawut Boonsing told AFP.

"There have been 40 burglaries in the Poklang area alone and we could see the brand of his 'Walkers' open-toe shoes stamped everywhere he went," he said. Nattawut said the man was also charged with the murder of teenager killed during a burglary in a nearby province two months ago and had confessed to robbing houses in at least two other provinces.

Ruengchai allegedly netted seven billion baht (177,600 dollars) from robberies over the past year, which he spent on gambling and his wife, according to media Sunday.

His wife -- reportedly unaware of her husband's criminal activities -- had bought a house next to one belonging to Thai tennis superstar Paradorn Srichaphan with the the money, said the Bangkok Post.

The suspect re-enacted his alleged crime Friday under heavy security to prevent enraged locals from attacking him, said police.

Manoel de Oliveira, 96 next month, starts work on new film

LISBON (AFP) - The world's oldest film director, Manoel de Oliveira, who celebrates his 96th birthday next month, has reportedly started work on a new movie.
Recalling that he produced at least one film a year, Oliveira, who made his first film, a silent documentary, in 1931, told Monday's edition of the daily Publico he still felt a great desire to keep the cameras rolling.

Oliveira said his current work was an adaptation of a novel "Magic Mirror", by Augustina Bessa-Luis, one of his favourite sources of inspiration. He has made half-a-dozen movies based on her writings.

He said he was proud of his reputation, adding, "If I had not attained the age that I am, I would not have received all those prizes" that he has won, especially in recent years.

Daughter shops father

A father's attempt to teach his daughter a lesson about drinking backfired when she led the police he had summoned to a stash of drugs and weapons inside their home.

Kevin Winston, 46, called police after his 16-year-old daughter came home drunk and unruly.

When police arrived, however, the girl told them she feared for her safety because her father stored drugs and weapons in the home in Newark, New Jersey, USA. The girl led officers to a hidden space above the ceiling where they found four semi-automatic guns and more than 600 vials of cocaine.

Road lines removal

A businessman has been forced to scrap a £100,000 machine he developed to remove yellow road lines because of a row over red tape.

Bill Scurlock, of Taunton Sweepers, Taunton in Somerset, is urging environment minister Elliot Morley and Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt, to help him in his battle with pollution watchdog, the Environment Agency.

He is frustrated that despite having the support of Devon County Council, which is keen to use his Line-Away System, as well as the Highways Agency and the Waste and Resource Action Programme, he is barred by the Environment Agency from operating it, because he is not licensed to handle the waste it produces.

German Snow White sacked for posing nude

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German singer who plays Snow White has lost her job at Dresden's Christmas market after posing for nude photos in a bathtub, Bild newspaper says.

Market organisers sacked Samira, 22, after photos appeared in Bild and other publications showing her lying naked in a bathtub filled with soap suds and rose petals, Bild said on Monday.

Samira, whose surname was not given, has played Snow White for five years. Dresden's mayor and others who miss her performance are asking that she be reinstated.

Short-arse Would-be cop hid wood in hair

An Indian man was arrested for hiding a piece of wood in his hair to meet the minimum height requirement to join the police.

Suspicious officers made Gajendra Kharatmal take the height test again and the wood popped out of his hair, reports Mid-Day newspaper.

Officials of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission in Mumbai say Kharatmal reached the 5ft 3ins mark exactly when he first stood at the scale.

An examiner said: "So we asked him to stand there once again. The second time, we felt something hard hidden in his hair and discovered a piece of wood."

Kharatmal was arrested on charges of cheating and is currently out on bail.

Police spokesman A K A Kaiser said: "He had taken the exams last year and even cleared the written test. The MPSC officials however rejected the application, as he was two inches short of their requirement.

"On his second attempt Kharatmal was aware he would be rejected for the same reason. To get selected, he adopted this approach."

In-flight lizard meal lands Indian airline in court

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) - The lizard biryani served on a Jet Airways flight in India proved just too spicy for a startled passenger who is taking the private carrier to court.

The airline admitted in a statement published Friday that it had launched an inquiry into how the two-inch lizard came to be cooked and served up to businessman Ashok Sharma.

"We are conducting an investigation of the unfortunate incident," Jet Airways chief operating officer Peter Luethi said.

"I am planning to file a case in the consumer court on returning to Bangalore," Sharma told The Statesman newspaper.

"This is a gross act of negligence and someone has to be made accountable," he said.

The biryani has been sent for testing amid claims from airline officials of "sabotage" at LSG Sky Chefs, a catering firm who supplied the food for the Bangalore to New Delhi connection on Wednesday night.

"We have taken all possible action in our operation in Bangalore to identify the potential root cause of this incident," LSG's operations director Michael Machartzek told the daily.

Jet Airways afforded Sharma VIP treatment on arrival in Delhi and a car to take him to his hotel, but he refused to hand over the lizard until he was ready.

"I insisted that I will bring it back to Delhi to highlight their negligence in the media," he said.

Witching power

Students who turn up at US schools dressed in Halloween costumes could be sent home ... out of consideration for witches.

Some schools in the Puyallup School District in Washington state have banned Halloween because of worries about offending real witches.

School officials took the step after followers of the Wiccan religion had complained about the way Halloween was celebrated. One official said: "Witches with pointy noses are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion."

Shocking marriage

A Wisconsin man who said he threw a live electrical wire into his wife's bath hoping a near-death experience would save their marriage has been convicted of attempted murder.

William Dahlby said in court he was only trying to scare his wife Mary. He told jurors the wire was hooked to a "ground fault interrupter" designed to cut the electricity when the cord encountered water. His wife was not hurt.

Prosecutors said Dahlby was trying to kill his wife to start a new life with another woman. He will be sentenced in December.

Dog calls ambulance to save owner

It was like a scene from Lassie. A dog telephoned for an ambulance and then unlocked the door for the police after her owner fell from her wheelchair.

After calling 911, four-year-old Rottweiler, Faith, barked urgently into the receiver to get help for 45-year-old Leana Beasley.

Ms Beasley suffered a seizure at her home in Washington state, in the north west United States.

"I sensed there was a problem on the other end of the 911 call," said emergency operator Jenny Buchanan. "The dog was too persistent in barking directly into the phone receiver. I knew she was trying to tell me something."

Faith has been trained to knock the receiver off the hook and press a speed dial button to call the emergency services.

But that's not all. The dog is also trained in first aid.

"She's trained to get under my body, roll me to my stomach so that fluid can run out," Ms Beasley told the local television channel KVEW-TV.

"She takes her nose pushes my chin up to open the airway, and then she's trained to lick my face and keep any fluid away so I don't drown."

Faith also uses her sensitive nose to detect changes in Ms Beasley's body chemistry which could indicate she is about to have a seizure.

Ms Beasley believes Faith had been trying to warn her all day that she was in danger. The day of the fall, Faith "had been acting very clingy, wanting to be touching me all day long" Ms Beasley said.

Late payment

After putting up with pangs of conscience for 24 years, a Norwegian finally settled a hotel bill he skipped out on in 1980.

The Clarion Hotel Ernst in the southern town of Kristiansand received a hand-written anonymous letter of apology with a 500 kroner note (£38) attached, said hotel director Kay Johnsen.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Johnsen, who has been in the hotel business for more than 20 years. The note said the sender had stayed at the hotel in the autumn of 1980, had some sandwiches and drinks on his room bill, and then left without paying for anything "because of my lifestyle at that time."

Drug dealer gets tax break on stolen money

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian drug dealer who dug up hundreds of thousands of dollars from his backyard to buy heroin but had the money stolen in the deal can claim a tax deduction for his losses.

Under Australian law, income earned from illegal activity can be subjected to income tax. The High Court of Australia ruled this week that if illegal income is subjected to tax, then losses should be deductible.

The ruling ended a 10-year battle between convicted drug dealer Francesco Dominico La Rosa and the Australian Tax Office, which argued the tax deduction was against good public policy.
Drug dealer Francesco Dominico La Rosa buried more than A$220,000 (90,000 pounds) in his back garden in 1995 and dug it up again to buy heroin, but had the cash stolen. La Rosa spent six years in jail for heroin import and possession.

The Australian government said on Friday it would close the tax loophole to stop other drug dealers claiming tax breaks.

It (the court) said that this drug dealer could claim as a deduction some money that was stolen from him. If that's the state of the law as interpreted by the high court, I don't think it's very good," Treasurer Peter Costello told local radio.

"I will seek to introduce legislation to change that law," he said.

Train conductor stamps dead man's ticket

LONDON (Reuters) - A train conductor carefully stamped the ticket of a slumbering passenger without realising the man was dead.

The thoughtful train worker thought the passenger was dozing when he came across him in the carriage clutching his ticket.

He carefully prised the ticket from the man's hands, punched it and returned it to him.

Shortly afterwards the train pulled into the station at York and rail staff alerted paramedics when they realised the man was not breathing.

"The conductor needn't have been so careful, as it turned out that the passenger had expired, long before his ticket ever did," said a report in the Transport Police's staff magazine.