Dogless shepherd uses wolf poster to control his flock of sheep

He could be forgiven for looking just a bit sheepish, but this shepherd has learned how to control his flock using just a poster of a wolf.
Farmer Du Hebing couldn't afford another dog after his old one died and had a brainwave after visiting a local wildlife park.

"They had a flock of rare sheep and as a joke one of the keepers had put a picture of a wolf in the enclosure.

"But I noticed that the sheep never went near it," he explained.

Now Du has got his neighbours wondering what he flock he's up to every time he moves his sheep.

"People laugh and point but it works - and the poster eats a lot less than any sheepdog," he said.

Santa gets a parking ticket

Father Christmas's job is hard enough – what with flying around the world in one night, climbing down chimneys and placating recalcitrant reindeer – without adding traffic wardens to his problems.
Unfortunately for Santa, however, a traffic warden in New York just got herself added to his naughty list, after she gave him a parking ticket while he was handing out toys to children.

Santa – in this case going under his everyday name of Chip Cafiero – was sitting in a horse drawn carriage instead of the traditional sleigh when the incident occurred. The problem was not so much the carriage, but the even less traditional double-parked SUV sat alongside him to protect the horse from traffic.

Cafiero, who was dressed as Santa at the time, says that he tried to tell the traffic warden that the SUV wasn't blocking traffic.

Regrettably, it appears that he tried to communicate this by shouting 'Ho! Ho! Ho!' at her.

'This grinch just went ahead and fined me,' said Cafiero, a 60-year-old retired schoolteacher.

He now says that he will challenge the $115 ticket (£74) he was given.

Martin Golden, a local politician, described the parking ticket 'ridiculous.' Police declined to comment.

Welsh rugby team 'could kill the Pope'

The Pope and his medical team will be on tenterhooks for the last fortnight of this year – that is, if superstition is anything to go by.

That's because the Welsh Six Nations victory this year gives Pope Benedict a 45 per cent chance of dying by the end of 2008, tongue-in-cheek research suggests.

'Every time Wales win the rugby grand slam, a Pope dies – except for 1978, when Wales were really good and two died,' said Dr Gareth Payne from the Univers­ity Hospital of – where else – Wales.

Dr Payne added the Vatican medical team 'cannot fully relax until the new year arrives'.

Since 1883, eight pontiffs have died – five in grand slam years, where the winners beat all other competing nations in a tournament.
There were three deaths when Wales completed the sweep and two more when it won the tournament but not the grand slam.

'The special theory of papal rugby is nothing more than an urban myth,' added Dr Payne, whose study is published in the British Medical Journal.

'This comes as something of a relief, as we're at a loss to see how events could be linked.'

1,500 parakeets found in tiny apartment

Animal welfare officials in Berlin have rescued 1,500 parakeets - from a two-room apartment.

City veterinarian Margit Platzer said the birds were flying freely around the apartment, which was 'littered with feces, feathers and leftover food.'

Platzer said it took her team more than seven hours on Tuesday to catch all the birds with nets.

The birds were taken Wednesday to animal shelters in Berlin and elsewhere, because there was not enough room for them at facilities in the capital.

Local media reported, without citing sources, that the owner gradually bought and bred the birds until his apartment was full, and that neighbors had complained about the noise and smell.

The retired man, who was not identified, could face charges for endangering the animals' safety and health.

Korean politicians in massive brawl

Free trade agreements may not immediately strike you as a political issue likely to inflame the passions and provoke an enormous brawl - but that's what happened today in the South Korean parliament.

As the ruling Grand National Party tried to bring in bill apporoving a free trade pact with the United States, opposition party members tried to get into the committee room where the bill was being introduced. Naturally, the ruling party barricaded the doors to the room with furniture.

It all kicked off from there, with opposition members fighting with security guards before taking a sledgehammer to the door, and ruling party members turning fire extinguishers on them to drive them back.

We can't help but feel that the British parliament would be a lot more interesting if, just occasionally, Gordon Brown gave David Cameron a fire extinguisher to the face because he didn't like the tone of his voice at Prime Minister's questions.

Man offers daughter to Bush shoe-thrower

The daughter, Amal Saad Gumaa, said she agreed with the idea. 'This is something that would honour me. I would like to live in Iraq, especially if I were attached to this hero,' she told Reuters by telephone.

Her father, Saad Gumaa, said he had called Dergham, Zaidi's brother, to tell him of the offer. 'I find nothing more valuable than my daughter to offer to him, and I am prepared to provide her with everything needed for marriage,' he added.

Zaidi's gesture has struck a chord across the Arab world, where President Bush is widely despised for invading Iraq in 2003 and for his support for Israel.

Amal is a student in the media faculty at Minya University in central Egypt.

Zaidi's response to the proposal was not immediately clear.

Smoking bidets to be repaired

A Japanese toilet-maker has pledged to repair nearly 82,000 electric bidets after several units overheated and emitted smoke.

Inax, Japan's second largest toilet-maker, made the announcement Tuesday after receiving six reports that covers on toilets with electric bidets - sprays fitted at the back of the toilets - melted and began smoking, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

No injuries were reported from the faulty DV-200 series, manufactured between March 2004 and June 2005, the ministry said in a statement, which urged owners to immediately pull the plug on the toilets.

Trickles of water leaked from the bidet pump, rusted the motors, and caused the malfunctions, the ministry said.

Inax apologised for the problem and offered free inspection and repairs for the 81,724 electric bidet toilets affected.

The company last month issued similar warnings to hundreds of thousands of people who purchased older-model toilets.

High-tech toilets fitted with warm water sprays and dryers are standard in Japanese homes. Luxury models come with an automatic lid, a massaging spray and a bowl deodoriser.

3 tonnes of cocaine found in bird poo bags

Five drug traffickers have been arrested in Peru for trying to smuggle cocaine inside 400 bags of bird poo.

They hoped the stink of 17 tonnes of guano would throw sniffer dogs off the scent of 2.8tonnes of cocaine, bound for Europe.

Turkmenistan will no longer sing about mad dictator

In bad news for crazed dictators everywhere, all references to Saparmurat Niyazov, the late autocratic leader of Turkmenistan, have been dropped from the Central Asian state's national anthem.

The parliament adopted a law changing the anthem on Monday, but the new text has yet to be published in the official press and state television broadcasts still open and close with the old version.

In the revised anthem, all three references to 'Turkmenbashi' - Niyazov's self-bestowed title, meaning 'the head of all Turkmens' - have been replaced with 'the people', according to a text of the revised anthem obtained by Reuters.

Where the first line of the chorus of the previous version said 'The great creation of Turkmenbashi' the new version says 'The great creation of (my) people'.


The change is part of President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's campaign to expunge the legacy of Niyazov's 21-year ironfisted rule during which he surrounded himself with an elaborate personality cult.

Berdymukhamedov already has reversed other policies of Niyazov, who died in 2006, such as renaming months after his relatives, banning opera and closing hospitals everywhere except in the capital Ashgabat.

President Bush Gets The Boot

Wild video out of Iraq, where an irate local journalist (?) tossed both of his shoes at President Bush during a press conference. Each shoe-missile missed its mark and the guy was immediately pounced on. Who knows what set the guy off? Maybe he was ticked that he didn’t get a pair of Nikes for Christmas. Whatever the case, it’s a shoe-in for Video of the Day. Check it out.

Couple served court notice via Facebook

You've been "superpoked" - and served. A court in Australia has approved the use of Facebook, a popular social networking Web site, to notify a couple that they lost their home after defaulting on a loan.

The Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court last Friday approved lawyer Mark McCormack's application to use Facebook to serve the legally binding documents after several failed attempts to contact the couple at the house and by e-mail.

Australian courts have given permission in the past for people to be served via e-mail and text messages when it was not possible to serve them in person.

McCormack, a lawyer for the lender the couple borrowed from, said that by the time he got the documents approved by the court late Tuesday for transmission, Facebook profiles for the couple had disappeared from public view.

The page was apparently either closed or secured for privacy, following publicity about the court order.

"It's somewhat novel, however we do see it as a valid method of bringing the matter to the attention of the defendant," McCormack said.

Despite the setback, McCormack said the Facebook attempt would help his client's case that all reasonable steps had been taken to serve the couple. A court is expected to settle the matter as early as next week.

Facebook has become a wildly popular online hangout, attracting more than 140 million users worldwide since it launched in 2004.

Facebook friends can "poke" or "superpoke" each other - terms for giving someone a playful nudge.

Lawyer and computer forensic expert Seamus Byrne said he was aware of only one similar case in Australia.

A Queensland state District Court judge ruled in April against documents being served by Facebook because the option of contacting a person via a post office box had not yet been exhausted.

In the latest ruling, Master David Harper insisted that the documents be attached to a private e-mail sent via Facebook that could not be seen by others visiting the pages.

McCormack said he and a colleague found the woman's Facebook page using personal details that she had given the lender including her birth date and e-mail address.

The man was listed on her page as a friend. Prior to Tuesday, neither had imposed security options that deny strangers access to their pages.

McCormack said he did not bother searching for the couple through any other social networking sites.

"It's one of those occasions where you feel most at home with what you know and I myself have a Facebook account," McCormack said.

Drug dealer steals fridge full of urine

A drug dealer stole a fridge full of his urine samples from a probation office after learning his samples had tested positive.

Devin Anthony Perry, 26, broke into the office in Gainesville, US, by shooting through a window.

Taking the locked refrigerator with him he reportedly picked up shards of window glass that had his blood on it and set the shrubbery beneath the window on fire, according to The Gainesville Times.

Police tracked Perry to his house and found the glass shards in a runnish bin, but the refrigerator has still not been found.

Robbers thwarted by pizza throw

Police say a pizza delivery man fought back with the one weapon he had handy when a gun was pulled on him in a stickup: he threw a large pepperoni pizza at his assailants.

Delivery man Eric Lopez Devictoria, 40, flung the steaming pizza at the gunman, buying time as he ran for safety, police told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

At least one shot was fired as Devictoria fled, but the deliveryman wasn't hurt and was able to quickly call police, authorities in Miramar, Florida said.

Three teenage suspects were nabbed soon after Wednesday's run-in, police said. They were charged with armed robbery.

French Banksy makes budding snapper a star

His face is on walls, doors and, er, skips across the world but if he walked past you in the street you probably wouldn't recognise him.

Amateur photographer Jon Cartwright has become a global phenomenon after a self-portrait he posted on the web inspired France's answer to Banksy.

Before he could say 'internet stardom', the 33-year-old's picture app­eared on the streets of New York, London, Paris and Sao Paulo.

'I'd be lying if I pret­ended I didn't get a big kick out of it,' said Mr Cartwright, a web manager from Southwark, south-east London.

'His work is inc­redible. It's quite nice to be involved.'
His rise to fame began in February when he posted on website Flickr a photo he took of himself smoking a cigarette.

He then received a message from a Paris-based artist who calls himself C215.

'This is a great picture of you. I will provide you soon or later a surprise,' he wrote cryptically.

Mr Cartwright soon found his face appearing all over the world, his photo forming the base for a stencil.

'A picture I took as a lighting experiment more than anything else has taken on a life of its own,' he said.

Despite the partnership, the budding male model has never met C215, whose real name is Christian Guemy.

The best they have done is exchange e-mails in a bizarre cross-Channel rel­ationship.

'It shows how the internet allows people to collaborate in strange ways,' added Mr Cartwright.

Council tells mayor to go to bed

A city council in California has imposed a curfew on its own mayor, after they got fed up with her working late at the City Hall.

Mayor Blanca Figueroa regularly works until the small hours of the morning. Members of the council, who say they have safety concerns about her night-owl ways, have now banned her from staying at the office after 11pm.

The mayor is less than happy about this, calling the curfew 'petty'.


The mayor of the town, 14 miles east of Los Angeles, insists that she needs to work into the night because her days are taken up by meetings, and she has an overflowing inbox of correspondence from residents.

Ghost arrests burglar

A burglar who broke into a house in Malaysia claims he was held captive by a 'supernatural figure' for three days without food and water, according to news reports.

Police official Abdul Marlik Hakim Johar told The Star newspaper the house's owners found the 36-year-old man fatigued and dehydrated when they returned from vacation Thursday.

He says they called an ambulance to take him to a hospital.

The man told police that every time he tried to escape, a 'supernatural figure' shoved him to the ground.

Abdul Marlik could not immediately be reached and other police officials declined to comment.