Stop the clash of civilizations

Talk is rising of a 'clash of civilizations'. But the problem isn’t culture, it's politics – from 9/11 to Guantanamo, Iraq to Iran. This clash is not inevitable, and we don't want it.

So where to start? The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the key symbol of the rift between Islam & the West. It's time to step up and take the initiative.

Add your voice to the petition below.

Petition to Israeli, Palestinian & international leaders: The Palestinian-Israeli conflict lies at the heart of a global clash threatening to divide us all. People from every corner of the world want a just and lasting peace in the Middle East - and the international community can and must help bring all sides to the table. Start Real Middle East Talks Now, and stay at the negotiating table until we have peace.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_clash

Man pregnant with second child

The "pregnant man" who gave birth to a daughter earlier this year is expecting a second child, according to US reports today.

Thomas Beatie, a married man who used to be a woman, said he did not go back on the male hormone testosterone after the birth of Susan on June 29 so he could have another baby.

"I feel good," he told ABC News' Barbara Walters.

"I had my checkups ... And everything is right on track."

Mr Beatie, who lives with his wife Nancy in Bend, Oregon, said the baby is due on June 12.

Girl of 12 brings gun in to school

A girl of 12 has been excluded from her all-girls school after she brought a gun to classes.

The youngster, whose school has 1,600 pupils, had been showing it off to friends before staff were alerted and called police.

She is thought to have brought the firearm into Whalley Range High School in Manchester after taking it from her father's house.

'The matter is being taken very seriously and being investigated by both the school and the police. The pupil involved has been excluded,' said headteacher Patsy Kane.

Teachers at the state school contacted police at lunchtime on Wednesday after the girl was seen showing the gun to other pupils.

When officers arrived, they seized the weapon and made it safe.

It was found to be a potentially deadly imitation pistol capable of firing pellets.

'An unloaded pellet gun was brought into school by a pupil. Police were alerted as soon as staff were aware of this. At no point were the girls in any danger,' Mrs Kane said.

She added she would be recommending the pupil be permanently excluded and moved to calm parents worried about the find.

'The incident was dealt with in a very efficient manner and letters have been sent to all parents to reassure them of that fact,' she said.

The find comes just three months after Manchester police revealed 112 weapons – including 32 fake guns – had been seized from schools across the city in the past two years.

The imitation firearms comprised more pellet guns, air guns, a starter pistol and a blank-firing revolver.

Other weapons found included 67 knives, knuckle-dusters, home-made shock devices, a screwdriver, a catapult and a pair of scissors.

Sacked Comolli: I was a great success at Spurs

Former Tottenham sporting director Damien Comolli insists his time at White Hart Lane was a success and believes the team's upturn in fortunes is a result of his legacy.

Comolli was sacked last month along with former head coach Juande Ramos after a disastrous start to the season which saw Spurs claim just two points from their opening eight league games, leaving them four points adrift at the bottom of the Barclays Premier League.

Comolli had overseen transfer dealings over the previous three years but it was the sales of strikers Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, to Liverpool and Manchester United, respectively, that apparently underpinned Spurs' struggles.

Subsequent acquisitions Fraizer Campbell, on loan from Manchester United, and Roman Pavlyuchenko failed to shine under Ramos while David Bentley and Jonathan Woodgate went public with their criticism of the team's displays.

Harry Redknapp was immediately appointed as new manager and has led the side out of the drop zone and into the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup with the likes of Campbell and Pavlyuchenko inspired by the former Pompey boss' arrival.

However, Comolli believes he is at least partly responsible for the side's improvement. He told The Sun: 'My time at Tottenham went exceptionally well.

'I took a lot of pleasure in what I achieved.

'I had a lot of success. I did a lot of good for the team and left a club in great shape.

'The current results are showing what I did for Tottenham. The team is great and young.'

Comolli, who has since joined French side St Etienne in a similar role, continued: 'I am still asking myself what happened in the end. I don't understand it.

'I advised the club to take a coach (Ramos) and it went well at first. But when he had problems the club turned on me.

'I am leaving a club with a lot of assets, many, many good players.'

Electric car made from bamboo

This eco friendly car made out of bamboo and running on electricty could be the future.

Displayed in Kyoto, western Japan, the single- seater bamboo car weighs sixty-kilogram, measures 270 centimeters in length, 130 centimeters in width and 165 centimeters in height.

And it can also run for 50 kilometers on a single charge.

Pastor issues seven-day sex challenge

A pastor of a church has challenged his congregation to have sex for seven days straight.
However, the rule only applies to married couples.

Reverand Ed Young set the task because he thought that society promoted promiscuous sex and not marital intercourse.

And he will be delivering the news to his followers in Dallas while sitting on a bed in front of the church.

The 47-year-old who has 20,000 church members said: "Sex should be a nurturing, spiritual act that strengthens marriages."

He added: "God says sex should be between a married man and a woman.

"I think it's one of the greatest things you can do for your kids because so goes the marriage, so goes the family."

And the father of four insists he will practice what he preaches.

Is this the world's longest beard?

Judges prepare to measure the beard of Sarwan Singh during a ceremony in Surrey, British Columbia on Tuesday.

Singh was attempting to break the Guinness World Record for beard length. His beard was eventually measured at a hefty 1.895 metres.

Prison guards force inmates to box

Five prison guards have been arrested after forcing inmates to hold boxing fights and videotaping them.

Predictably the bouts in an Albuquerque jail lead to a broken hand and a concussion.

The prisoners were told to fight with boxing gloves but weren't given headgear or mouthguards.

The man who broke his hand was denied medical attention because the guards didn't want anyone to find out.

The guards are believed to have laid bets on the results with one telling another, "you made me a lot of money."

Seventeen video clips were found on one of the guard's phones.

Woman dies after stepping into pit of boiling water

A Russian woman who fell into a pit of boiling water after parking her car died on Tuesday from burns, a hospital official said.

The hole was caused by a ruptured underground heating pipe.

"She parked her car, left it, and immediately found herself in boiling water," said an official at the Military Medical Academy in Russia's second city of St. Petersburg.

A man who tried to rescue the 57-year-old woman also suffered burns but was in stable condition, the official said.


Most Russian cities have ageing municipal heating systems which pump boiling water under the streets and into houses.


Ruptures regularly occur in late autumn when the system is switched on for the winter.

Dad leaves kids alone with knife, hatchet and bat for protection

An American man has been arrested for child neglect after leaving his two kids alone with a knife, hatchet and baseball bat for protection.

Daniel R. Stewart of St Petersburg, Florida, left his seven-year-old girl and six-year-old boy with the weapons to protect themselves.

He said he was going to the store but police said his story was inconsistent.

After he left the children emerged from the house and told neighbours they were scared.

They are now in the custody of their mother.

Man hands ID to checkpoint police, speeds away, tracked down easily

An American man made a foolhardy attempted escape by speeding away after he handed over his ID to police at a checkpoint.

They say a man handed over his license and registration at a sobriety checkpoint during the weekend, then peeled out and sped away, almost hitting an officer.

Police eventually pulled over the 32-year-old man and reported finding marijuana in his vehicle.

He was charged with driving under the influence of drugs, possession of drugs, disobeying a police officer and reckless conduct.

Man tries to smuggle date rape drug in 'holy water' bottles

A New York City man is accused of trying to smuggle a date rape drug into the United States by putting the liquid in bottles he claimed contained "holy water."

US Customs and Border Protection officials say laboratory tests recently confirmed that dozens of bottles seized at a western New York border crossing contained Ketamine, a powerful hallucinogenic used as a date rape drug.

Authorities say 50-year-old Warren Maynard of Brooklyn was arrested Oct. 16 near Niagara Falls after he tried to enter the US from Canada, where he said he'd bought some religious items.

Officials say a Customs dog sniffed out the drug while Maynard was being questioned by officers.

The status of his case and whether Maynard has a lawyer couldn't be immediately determined Tuesday.

Boxers robbed as their ring is stolen

Boxers who claim they have been robbed in the ring have now discovered their ring itself has been stolen.

The ring at Glass City Boxing in Ohio was swiped sometime over the weekend.

Trainer Tom Urbina said if the ring is not returned the gym may have to cancel upcoming boxing shows.

The ring has been used since the 1970s by numerous local fighters including Devin Vargas, a heavyweight who made the 2004 U.S.

Olympic team.

Epic booze session ends in nakedness and flooding

A woman has been charged over an epic drinking session where she stole drinks, stripped naked, kicked and bit police and flooded her cell.

Lori Brutsche-Ely, was arrested on Halloween night after reports that she was stealing beer from customers.

She also exposed herself to a band playing at the venue, picked fights and refused to leave.

When police found her she was completely naked and was shouting at security guards outside the Mint nightclub, the US newspaper Idaho Mountain Express reported.

She allegedly kicked a security guard in the groin and later attacked a police officer.

One victim is reported as saying: "We were still trying to control the female when I felt pain in my left shoulder.

"I looked and observed the woman biting me."

When in jail police said she trashed a sprinkler, flooding the cell and attacked and bit a prison officer.

Sounds like one hell of a night. Fortunately the officer had a tetanus shot, and Brutsche-Ely had this wonderful picture taken.

Smile!

Text to tell parents of nappy rash

Babies might be able to put nappy rash behind them - by sending a text to their parents to let them know when they are wet.

A moisture sensor clipped to the nappy sends a text as soon as it becomes damp.

The Baby Wee-Care device was invented by Avtar Chagger, of Coventry.

Menu munching sticks dog's jaws together

A terrier trained to pick up post from the doormat got his jaws stuck together when he sank his teeth into a takeaway menu.

Cymbeline picked up owner Kimberley Fisher's morning mail but, after dropping her letters, the menu's gloss finish melted in his mouth.

He had to be taken to the vets to get it removed.

'I feel the companies that generate the material should take some responsibility,' said Ms Fisher, of Colchester.

One of our churches is missing

A church has vanished from the Russian village where it stood for almost 200 years, the local diocese said on Tuesday.

The Church of Christ's Resurrection, in the central Russian village of Komarovo, was built in 1809 but in early October someone took it away brick by brick, Father Vitaly a spokesman for the local Russian Orthodox Church, told Reuters.

'We have sent a letter to local prosecutors,' he said. 'Who exactly did this, the investigation will show.'

The church was in an isolated area only occasionally visited by clergymen, so the disappearance was not immediately noticed.

Komarovo is in the Ivanovo region, about 300 km north-east of Moscow. The church was not in use but clergy had been considering resuming services there, the Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya and Kineshemskaya diocese said in a statement on its Internet site.

A survey of the large, two-storey church a few months ago found that it was structurally sound, but now all that remains are the foundations and sections of walls, the statement said.

Thieves routinely make off with church property in rural Russia, where unemployment, petty crime and alcoholism are widespread.

Criminals target religious icons stored in churches because they can fetch a good price, and church buildings are dismantled to provide building materials.

'This is not an isolated case,' said Father Vitaly. 'In many villages in central Russia sites of historical interest are being dismantled and people suffer by being deprived of their cultural heritage.'

Woman killed by husband's coffin

A woman in Brazil was killed on the way to her husband's funeral when a traffic accident hurled his coffin against the back of her head.

Police say 67-year old Marciana Silva Barcelos was in the front passenger seat of the hearse when the accident occurred Monday in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Barcelos died instantly.

Her 76-year-old husband Josi Silveira Coimbra died on Sunday of a heart attack while dancing at a party.

The driver of hearse and Barcelos' son suffered minor injuries.

Vest sees banned dog back in pub

A dog banned from a pub for chewing up its beer mats has been allowed back in - but only if she wears a high visibility vest.

Hatty the Lakeland terrier must be visible at all times to landlord Nigel McLelland at the Jolly Sailor in Prestatyn, north Wales.

Owner Jeff Hughes, 35, admits his pet 'goes berserk' when she sees beer mats, chomping her way through up to 50 an hour.

The landlord, 57, said of the vest: 'It's a bit of a joke. We thought of a hard hat and muzzle but that was going too far.'

'Buddha-boy' emerges from jungle after a year

A teenage boy who many believe is the reincarnation of Buddha has re-emerged from the jungle after hiding for a year.

After retreating into the jungle for more than a year, Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, re-emerged yesterday near Nijgadh town, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the capital, Katmandu.

Upon hearing the news, thousands of Bamjan's followers, some from as far away as India, traveled to the site Tuesday to see him.

Joshi said Bamjan plans to talk to his followers for a few hours every day for a week before returning to the jungle to meditate.

The long-haired Bamjan, dressed in a white cloth, appeared to be in good health as he spoke to his followers about peace and ending discrimination, according to the Rajdhani newspaper.

"It was an amazing experience to hear and see him. I have no doubt now he is the reincarnation of Buddha," said Sangeeta Lama, a woman who met Bamjan for the first time.

Buddhist priests have been divided on whether the boy is truly the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal around 500 BC and later became revered as the Buddha, which means Enlightened One.

There has been no formal declaration by Buddhist authorities that Bamjan is the reincarnation of the Buddha. But people have worshipped the teenager since he was first seen in 2005 meditating in the jungle, where he sat for months, motionless with his eyes closed among the roots of a tree.

Min Bahadur Shakya of the Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods in Katmandu said Buddhist priests have not reached a conclusion about Bamjan because they have not been able to fully investigate the boy.

"Meditating without food does not prove that he is reincarnation of Buddha. There is much study needed to be done," Shakya said.

Life in the old dog - thanks to Viagra

A dying dog has had its life saved - by sex drug Viagra.

Owner David Roach took springer spaniel Bentley to the vet after lungworm spread to a heart artery.
As the seven-year-old dog went into heart failure, vet Ben Harris turned to erectile dysfunction treatment Viagra, which works by relaxing blood vessels.

Now weeks later, Bentley is back to his best. Mr Roach, of East Finchley, north London, said Bentley would be on the drug for the rest of his life - without any sexy side-effects.

'He was neutered when he was very little, so he's never had a very active reproductive life,' he added.

Five-tonne rock smashes garden shed

A five-tonne boulder careered down a rock face, smashing into a garden below and crushing a shed.
The crag broke loose yesterday morning, plunging 18m (60ft) down the rock face at the back of a house.

It also pushed an oil tank containing 1,000 litres of oil up against the back of Gwyneth Jarman's house in Dulverton, Somerset.

'I heard the rumbling, the house shook, I woke up and didn't realise what had happened. The boulder would have been in the kitchen if the shed hadn't been there.'

Ex-student kills teacher over bad history

A South Korean has admitted killing a former schoolteacher who punished him for cheating on a test 21 years ago.

The man told police that he had repeatedly sought an apology from the teacher for the 1987 incident but was rebuffed.
Angered at being ignored he confronted the teacher outside his house in the Eunpyeong district Sunday night and killed him.

Chinese policeman arrests 48 family members

A police chief in China has taken down 48 of his relatives for various crimes including brothers, cousins and a number of his wife's family.
He Laobulaluo, a police chief in Heizhugou township, Sichuan province, had seen 25 relatives either jailed, sent for "re-education through labour", or punished in other ways, according to a report posted on state news portal Chinanews.com.

Over a 10-year career, the police chief, who is in his 30s, had personally arrested a brother and two cousins after finding they had beaten local teachers at a primary school while drunk.

Other family members were arrested after stealing a woman's handbag.

The policeman's sense of duty had inflamed his relatives, some of whom had taken turns threatening his parents, and had "even secretly cut off the tails and slashed the legs of their cows," the report said.

"In the first few years, I did not dare head back to my hometown to pass the New Year holiday, but now it's all right. Everyone understands and supports what I was doing at the time," the report quoted him as saying.

World's ugliest dog dies, will be beautiful in heaven

A one-eyed, three-legged dog that won the title of world's ugliest pooch this summer has died.

Gus, a hairless Chinese crested dog, succumbed to cancer after a long battle, according to The St. Petersburg Times in Florida. He was 9.

Gus was rescued from a bad home and went on to win the annual World's Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in northern California.

Gus came from humble origins. According to the fair, his adopted family in Gulfport, Florida, rescued him after learning he was being kept in a crate inside someone's garage.

He had one leg amputated because of a skin tumor, and lost an eye in a cat fight.

'He took me to amazing places,' said his tearful owner, Jeanenne Teed.

Teed had said the prize money from the contest would be put toward the dog's radiation treatment.

Bomb found in pile of potatoes

Army bomb experts yesterday exploded a World War II grenade found in a pile of potatoes at a food factory.

The device was found at United Biscuits in Billingham, Teesside.

It is not known where the spuds came from.

Monks brawl at holy site

Israeli police rushed into one of Christianity's holiest churches Sunday and arrested two clergyman after an argument between monks erupted into a brawl next to the site of Jesus' tomb.

The clash broke out between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

It began as Armenian clergymen marched in an annual procession commemorating the 4th-century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus. It ended with the arrival of dozens of riot policemen who separated the sides, seizing a bearded Armenian monk in a red-and-pink robe and a black-clad Greek Orthodox monk with a bloody gash on his forehead.

Both men were taken away in handcuffs.

Six Christian sects divide control of the ancient church. They regularly fight over turf and influence, and Israeli police are occasionally forced to intervene.

The feud revolves around a demand by the Greek Orthodox to post a monk inside the Edicule - the ancient structure built on what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus - during the Armenian procession.

The Armenians refused, and when they tried to march the Greek Orthodox monks blocked their way.

"We were keeping resistance so that the procession could not pass through ... and establish a right that they don't have," said a young Greek Orthodox monk with a cut next to his left eye. The monk, who gave his name as Serafim, said he sustained the wound when an Armenian punched him from behind and broke his glasses.
Father Pakrat of the Armenian Patriarchate said the Greek demand was "against the status quo arrangement and against the internal arrangement of the Holy Sepulcher." He said the Greeks attacked first.

Archbishop Aristarchos, the chief secretary of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate, said his monks had not initiated the violence. "I'm sorry that these events happened in front of the Holy Sepulcher, which is the most holy religious monument of Christianity," he said.

After the brawl, the church was crowded with Israeli police holding assault rifles and equipped with riot gear, standing beside Golgotha, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, and the long smooth stone marking the place where tradition holds his body was laid out.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were forced to intervene after fighting was reported. They arrested two monks, one from each side, he said.

Big Apple trip is ruined... by apple conviction

A couple's dream trip to New York has been shattered by a 37-year-old conviction for stealing an apple.

John Wells won the transatlantic trip plus spending money but can't go because of the offence in 1971.

The 55-year-old has to have an interview at the American embassy in London, where the earliest slot is in February - two months after the trip.

'I felt sick when they told me the date of the interview,' he said. 'I don't know what I'm going to do. What amazes me is that if I was a rapist or murderer, I would have to go through the same process.

But all I did was steal an apple.'

Mr Wells, from Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, and a pal stole an apple each from outside a shop during a boozy night.

He was fined £10 and the conviction is now classed as a 'spent offence' in Britain. But American law demands anyone with a criminal conviction, no matter how old or trivial, must declare it in advance and apply for a entry visa.

'I've been all over the world and this has never caused a problem before,' added Mr Wells, who won the trip on a Smooth FM radio contest.

'I might have to raffle the prize for charity now. I'm totally gutted.'

A spokesman for the radio station said: 'There is little we can do now.'

The American embassy declined to comment.

Thief very sorry, seven years later

A remorseful thief sent £100 and an apology letter to a shop seven years after stealing cigarettes from the premises.

Imran Ahmed, who runs Raja Foods in Easton, Bristol, was stunned to get the penitent note and the money as compensation for the packs taken in 2001.

Mr Ahmed, 27, who remembers the night-time raid which left him with a broken shutter and windows said the anonymous writer's change of heart was 'really good.'

Councillor launches trouser-sag crusade

US city councillor Dwaine Caraway is on a mission to persuade people to pull up low-hanging, baggy trousers that give onlookers too much of a rear view.

More than 100 adults, children, students, ministers, law enforcement officers and representatives from local organisations attended a summit organised by the Dallas crusader against buttock cleavage-revealing trousers.

Local youth counsellor Calvin Glover even brought a contingent of saggy bottom teenagers along in a bid to make them pull their socks - and trousers - up.

Glover, a 29-year-old former sagger who still admits to an occasional offense, said kids today have taken the trend too far, exposing too much of their backsides.

'Come on, man,' he said disgustedly. 'I don't want to see your dirty boxers that you've had on for two or three days. I mean, really.'

In a recent interview with MTV, America's new President-elect Obama addressed the pressing issue of baggy trousers, saying that he didn't agree with laws banning sagging waistlines - but did feel that 'brothers should pull up their pants.'

Hooligan hogs trash football pitch

A football match was cancelled after angry wild boars invaded the pitch, leaving it covered in potholes.

The hog hooligans squeezed though a gap in the fence at Soudley Recreation Ground in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and dug up giant mounds with their snouts.

The new pitch was so badly damaged by the boars, who live in nearby woodland, that Soudley's match with Charfield on Saturday was cancelled.

The pitch underwent a £1,000 returfing and expansion last April, paid for by fundraising events such as discos.

Gloucestershire Football Association operations manager Chris Lucker said today: "This is the first time we've heard of anything like this.

Usually it's motorbikes or cars that tear up pitches, not boars.

There is funding available for the upkeep of pitches."

Club secretary Louise Stephens said members and players were "absolutely devastated" by the carnage that afternoon. She told the Western Daily Press: "A resident saw the pitch at 8.30am and phoned my husband to say we had to get down straight away. There is no way of playing on the pitch now."

It will take several months to get the pitch up to scratch. All matches have been postponed. After being hunted to near-extinction 300 years ago, wild boars have bred rapidly in recent decades after they were imported from Europe for meat.

Escapes from wildlife parks and farms increased in the 1990s as the captive numbers grew. In January this year, a wild boar broke into Ruardean Primary School, seven miles away from the Soudley pitch, and was shot dead in the playground after it became aggressive and stomped its feet.

There have been several instances of horse riders chased by charging boars, boars trashing private gardens and farms and of boars tearing dogs apart.

Farmers also fear the animals spread diseases like classical swine fever and foot and mouth.

It is estimated that there are over 1,000 boars in the UK and sightings have also been reported in east Somerset, Kent, East Sussex, west Dorset and Devon.

Forestry experts say the animals have little fear of people because they have not been hunted and have no natural predators.

A selective cull of boars was sanctioned in February this year by Biodiversity Minister Joan Ruddock.

Extreme couple's ridiculous sport obsession

As someone once said, it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.
Particularly if you're James Barber and Sally Raynes and bizarre sports are your thing.

Through the week they lead 'mundane office lives' - but every weekend they travel around the country seeking wacky challenges.

The couple from Devon have enlivened their lives by taking part in more than 90 championships for such fun events as bog-snorkling, gurning, shin-kicking, clog throwing and stinging nettle eating.

Data analyst Mr Bamber, 35, is World Russian Egg Roulette champion - like Russian roulette except with five hard-boiled and one uncooked egg.

Ms Raynes, 36, an event manager, said: 'We became hooked after taking part in a bog-snorkelling contest that we saw advertised in a local paper.

'We had to swim to the end of a 60-yard bog using a mask, snorkel and flippers. It was cold, pitch black... but we had a blast so we started looking around to see what other events were on.'

Stinging nettle eating saw them having to eat as many nettle stalks without being sick.

But that was nothing compared to swamp soccer. 'That was definitely the hardest event,' said Ms Raynes.

'The pitch was a complete quagmire of mud and you had to kick the ball down to the other end.

'Even though James is incredibly fit, within 15 seconds he was exhausted.'

Yesterday the pair, who plan to write a book on their experiences, were out again - taking part in a wife-carrying contest.

President-Elect Barack Obama in Chicago

Cute dog WLTM a mate for puppy love

A desperate dog owner has posted a profile of his terrier on the internet in a bid to find his lovesick pet a partner.

John Roberts decided to take action to try to stop Perkins making indecent advances towards female dogs.

'He is six years old, charged up and ready to go. It can get quite embarrassing when we go out. As soon as he sees a female, he is up on two legs and jumping all over them,' the 59-year-old said.

A lonely hearts advert for the Jack Russell-cross was also placed in the local paper in Shrewsbury but there have been no takers.

'I have set him up his own e-mail address in case anyone wanted to apply. He's very distressed because he's had no messages or phone calls,' said Mr Roberts.

His e-mail is perkins@oldcolonial.org.uk.

Hilary Duff's bondage video banned

This is Hilary Duff in her new music video for the single Reach Out. The footage, which shows the 21-year-old singer in bondage gear, has been banned by US censors.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE