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

Thieves stuff van full of pigs

Two thieves were caught in southern Hungary with 12 pigs stuffed in their small van during a routine traffic check, Hungarian police said on Thursday.

Police stopped two men in a Renault Kangoo near the town of Szigetvar, about 137 miles south of Budapest, as they attempted to drive off.

'The pigs weighed about 25-30 kg each - they were really squashed into the car very tightly,' a spokesman said.

Police said the pigs came from a nearby farm, where 35 pigs have gone missing in recent days.

Dog takes motor for car wash spin

A dog waiting in a car while at a car wash slipped the vehicle into gear and drove in a loop before the car came to a stop.

Pryor police officer Brent Crittenden said the dog's owner was washing the vehicle when the 70-pound pit bull jumped on the dash and somehow shifted the car into reverse.

The car backed out of the car wash bay, continued onto a highway and then looped around before coming to a stop at an automated car wash lane.

Crittenden said the vehicle was impounded because its owner was unable to provide proof of insurance.

Because the dog was registered with the city, Crittenden said the owner was allowed to walk the pooch home.

Official quits after 'blatant groping'

A government official in Finland has resigned after he admitted to groping a number of women's breasts at an event at the Swedish embassy in Helsinki.

Stefan Johansson touched several women's breasts at a reception.

Afterwards, he said: "I am deeply regretful, since my judgment - as a result of inebriation and fatigue - led me to behave in a way that I myself cannot accept."

The state secretary to Finland's equality minister stepped down.

One guest, magazine editor Solveig Arle, said: "What happened at the embassy party was not the sort of surreptitious groping that is difficult to define. It was straight-to-the-point blatant groping.

"And then there's Johansson's job title. What does this say about equality in Finland if there's not even a basic understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment at the ministry in question?"

One of the women who was groped wrote to the equality minister Stefan Wallin about the incident.

Giant painted penis fights evil

Yes, this house has a huge phallus on it. But there is a good reason why.
In the country of Bhutan in south Asia, the giant penis has an important job. It is scrawled on homes to ward off evil spirits.

The penis is said to protect those inside the house and stop them from arguing with each other.

Today Bhutan is crowning its new king, 28-year-old Oxford-educated Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, and people in the capital of Thimpu are flying the country's flag in celebration.

President's dog bites reporter's finger

It seems outgoing US president George W Bush's dog Barney was not in the mood for friendly attention during a walk outside the White House.
When Reuters reporter Jon Decker reached down to pet the Scottish terrier, the seemingly docile dog snapped at him and bit Decker's right index finger.

Reporter April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks happened to capture the moment on video. And, naturally, it soon wound up on YouTube.

Barney will not have to worry about bothersome reporters much longer. The Bush administration ends in 75 days, and the president is headed back to Texas.

Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush, said: "I think it was his way of saying he was done with the paparazzi."

Mrs Bush asked McDonough to call Decker and make sure he was OK. She reports that Decker "is being a good sport about it all."

The White House doctor bandaged the intrepid reporter's wound.






As he says in the YouTube clip: "I got bit by Barney, and unfortunately it broke the skin, and I have to be on antibiotics for the next few days."

Consider it a cautionary tale. The incoming president, Barack Obama, has promised to buy daughters Malia and Sasha a puppy

Alleged mobster nicked after lipo

Soon after an alleged mobster woke up in a private Italian clinic following liposuction surgery, he discovered he had lost a lot more than weight.

After a year on the run, Domenico Magnoli, 27, finally lost his liberty when he discovered the well-wishers surrounding his bed were police officers, who promptly arrested him, investigators and health officials said Friday.

The plainclothes officers posed as visitors and carried flowers and boxes of chocolates to greet Magnoli after an operation to remove fat from his thighs and stomach.

Magnoli had just woken when he was arrested, said Vincenzo Greco, health director of the private La Madonnina clinic in Calabria, southern Italy.

Greco confirmed that officers did not wear their police uniforms.

Paramilitary Carabinieri police in Cosenza said that Magnoli was arrested on a French warrant for alleged drug trafficking.

Police said Magnoli, born in Cannes, has links to the Piromalli crime clan in the 'ndrangheta syndicate. He had been a fugitive for about a year.

The 'ndrangheta is a criminal organization based in Calabria which operates cocaine and other drug trafficking rings between South America and Western Europe, and which has outstripped the Sicilian Mafia in power, prosecutors say.

Greco said Magnoli had liposuction six months earlier with the same surgeon at another clinic.

X-rated: Little House On The Prairie

Finland has rated the DVD release of the much-loved children's television series Little House On The Prairie suitable for adult viewing only.
To save money, Universal Pictures decided not to submit the series to state inspection, the company's Finland marketing manager Meri Suomela said.

Finnish authorities charge two euros per minute for assessing the correct age limit on films and television series.

Distributors who forego this can only sell their shows with a sticker saying "Banned for under-18s".

"Long series can get quite expensive to check, and some use this exemption in the law to their advantage," said Matti Paloheimo, Director at the Finnish Board of Film Classification.

"Such unchecked material should not be shown to children publicly," he added.




Little House on the Prairie, which ran from 1974 to 1983, portrayed life in the U.S. West in the late 1800s and was based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder's children's book of the same name.

It remains popular in Finland, and is still shown weekly on Sunday mornings on state-owned broadcaster YLE.

Obama fan's noise lands him in jail

A New York man's noisy celebration of Barack Obama's victory landed him in a Caribbean jail.

Police in Grenada say Roy Coutain was honking his horn and relentlessly shouting, "Obama! Obama!" as he drove through the streets of the capital in a car covered with U.S. flags.

He wore an Obama T-shirt - in case his allegiance was in doubt.

Coutain was recorded on video telling police: "The entire world is excited and you don't want me to celebrate! I voted and I have a right to celebrate!"

Island police arrested Coutain on Wednesday and charged him with disorderly behavior, obscene language and resisting arrest.

Coutain is from Grenada but has lived in New York state and is a U.S. citizen.

Boy survives being 'recycled' by truck

Police in Milwaukee say a teenage boy has survived after being accidentally dumped into the back of a recycling truck and compacted.

Police say the 14-year-old ran away from a boot camp-style school for teens and hid in a recycling bin filled with cardboard.

The bin was picked up by a Waste Management truck and dumped into the vehicle's rear compactor.

Waste Management spokeswoman Lynn Morgan says the truck continued on its collection route, compacting cardboard several times.

The boy was not discovered until the truck dumped its load at a recycling processing centre.

He was semi-conscious and was taken to a hospital, but police say his injuries are not life-threatening.

Circus tigers go on the run

Authorities say three tigers that escaped from a Mexican circus truck were recaptured after police distracted them by throwing them chickens.

The local newspaper Cambio de Michoacan says the escaped felines holed up in house in the western city of Zitacuaro.
When the tigers started breaking down the home's fence, police lobbed them chickens to eat until a dogcatcher and the animals' trainer arrived.

An officer at the state police office in Zitacuaro says the tigers were loose for less than an hour. The officer was not authorized to be quoted by name.

The big cats were recaptured Wednesday and taken to a local police station where they were held until their owner agreed to pay for the chickens and damage to the fence.

Fox sinks jaws into jogger's arm

Authorities in Arizona say a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran a mile with the animal's jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital.

The Yavapai County sheriff's office says the woman told deputies she was on a trail near Prescott on Monday when the fox attacked and bit her foot.

She said she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg but it bit her arm.

The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran to her car with the fox still biting her arm, then pried it off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital.

The sheriff's office says the fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the woman are both receiving rabies vaccinations.

Cops find crack pipe in woman's crack

Police who arrested a woman for stealing money from a car found a glass crack pipe hidden between her buttocks.
Cops made the surprise discovery during a routine search on Evelyn Russo while she was being booked for taking $2 in change.

Russo, 38, of Palm City, Florida, had denied having any drugs or drug paraphernalia on her.

She was charged with auto burglary and introducing contraband into a detention facility. Russo was being held on $5,000 bail on Wednesday.

US election results

Barack Obama's historic campaign comes to a spectacular close with his victory rally in Chicago.
US election results map
Check state-by-state results with our interactive map.

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Basketball player, 73, shoots hoops

Ken Mink made both of his foul shots Monday night in a U.S. college basketball game.

Nothing unusual there - except that Mink is 73 years old.

Mink, a full-time student at Roane State Community College, entered the game with about 16 minutes left and missed one shot in about three minutes.

Seven minutes later, he went back in the game, was fouled and made two free throws as his team beat King College's junior varsity - or "B" team - 93-42.

"I found myself on the free-throw line 52 years after my last college game," Mink said. "I said, 'Just relax and shoot it like you know how to all day long.' I just floated the shots in there.

I'm in the books now. I can relax a little bit."

Mink last played college basketball 52 years ago at Lees College in Jackson, Kentucky.

Last year, after shooting baskets at a neighbor's house, he wrote to several area colleges, and Roane State coach Randy Nesbit agreed to give him a chance.

Mink has practiced regularly with the team since school began in August.

Pig's blood sparks police probe

When horrified motorists came across a huge trail of blood on a motorway in Switzerland, there could be only one logical explanation: a big monster had been shot dead and dragged away.

It was only after police followed the trail of the red stuff for 12 miles that they received the shock of a lifetime - inexplicably the blood had merely been leaking from a butcher's lorry.

After much soul-searching, the theory that Godzilla and King Kong had rumbled on a Swiss motorway, before the victor dragged the loser down the road had to be reluctantly abandoned.

A police statement said officers followed the blood for 12 miles to the town of Kuettigen only to find that a butcher's supply van had spilled its cargo.

A barrel of pork blood had overturned inside. The van had been headed for a local sausage factory.

World's top chef wants a McDonald's

The head chef at Spain's El Bulli, voted the world's best restaurant three years running, has revealed he wants to eat at McDonald's.

Ferran Adria said he didn't think he could make a better burger for the money.

He added: "It's ages since I went there, but I want to go back."

Man nicks 130 pairs of knickers

Running out of clean underwear is a situation we all dread.

But one man has taken that fear to the next level by ensuring he has enough to last him for months.
Unfortunately, the undergarments in question are of the female variety, but it looks as if he will just have to squeeze into them.

The thief proved that you can never have too much underwear when he stole more than 130 pairs of panties from a Victoria's Secret store in Dallas.

He snatched more than $1,000 worth of knickers from a table in the shop.

A police report says a female accomplice held open the door during the theft and both sped away in a green car.

The report did not indicate what styles or sizes were stolen.

The incident took place at the Victoria's Secret store on Mockingbird Lane.

Super-fit shrimp is an internet hit

A super-fit shrimp has become an internet hit after it learned how to run on a treadmill.
The crustacean was placed on a mini exercise machine in a tank of water as part of an experiment to see how far shrimps travelled for food.

Results showed it could jog at speeds of 20m (66ft) per minute and go three hours before needing a rest.

Film of the experiment was put on the internet. Two years on, more than a million people have logged on to watch.

Some fans have even put music to it – such as the Benny Hill theme tune or music from the film Chariots Of Fire.

Prof David Scholnick, of Pacific University in Oregon, said: 'As far as I know, this is the first time that shrimp have been exercised on a treadmill and it was amazing to see how well they did.'

Watch the shrimp break out a sweat below...

Unruly pupils to get foot massage

Disruptive pupils are to be given foot massages in a bid to curb their unruly behaviour.

Lambeth Council in south London is to spend £90,000 next year on sending reflexologists into schools.

The team is from Bud-Umbrella, a London-based charity which offers complementary therapies to adults and children.

Restaurateur 'beaten up' by 83-year-old nuns

An Italian man has claimed he was beaten up by two 83-year-old nuns and a priest over a restaurant ownership row.

Aniello Esposito, 49, said he turned up to his restaurant in Rutino, Campania, to find the three holy people smashing furniture and crockery.

When he tried to stop them the priest struck him with a chair and the elderly ladies kicked him on the ground.

He was taken to the hospital with bruises on his neck and stomach.
The mother superior of the convent said the nuns had been removing furniture because the convent owned the property and Esposito was in illegal possession.

A lawyer for the nuns said: 'The nuns and the priest arrived to find a wall had been knocked down and seating installed. I don't know how this man was hurt, but the two nuns are 83 and did not cause any injury.'

Esposito said the convent was angry because he was giving out receipts when they wanted the business run 'under the table'.

Cave for sale, one careful owner

With the property market in the state it's in, you may well have been looking at other housing options - for example, living in a cave. If so, then we've got good news for you.

Cave owner Steve Rush, 49, is auctioning off the Mystic Caverns in the hills of Ozark Mountains on eBay. The 28-acre property in Arkansas includes a gift shop and three caves, two of which are safe enough for visitors.

The bidding starts at $899,900 (£568,000), cut from Rush's original asking price of $1.2 million.

Rush bought the property near Harrison in 1988 and began giving tours in 1992 to the two accessible caves, Mystic cavern and the Crystal Dome cavern.

A third cave on his property, Not Much Sink cavern, remains too dangerous for tours.

But business has dropped since a nearby amusement park closed in the 1990s. Rush said the Mystic Caverns still get about 15,000 visitors each year.

Rush said he wants to sell the caves to become involved in Christian ministries. He also joked that he tiring of being a tour guide.

'It's always been a struggle for me, because you have to entertain people. ... I'm really tired of trying to entertain people,' he said.

Rush acknowledged the tight real estate market but said he hoped to sell the caves to a cave-diving enthusiast with a little spending money.

'It's a tough time in the marketplace to get a buyer I think for any real estate, and I don't think this business makes enough money' to make mortgage payments, Rush said.

'However, if you had some money and you were not afraid of risk ...'

Vickie Martin, a real estate agent for the caves, agreed. 'It's a tough sale. You've got to find the right person,' she said. 'It's not something you can buy and let it run itself. You've got to take an active interest in it.'

Rush said he had been quietly shopping the caves around for two years but took the sale public when no takers came forward.

Is 'Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined' the longest name in the world?

A teenager has claimed to have the longest name in the world - Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined.

Captain Fantastic - formerly George Garratt - changed his name by deed pool 'for a bit of a laugh' through the Legal Deed Poll Service which charged £10 for the legally-certified deed poll.

Captain Fantastic, a 19-year-old music student from Glastonbury, Somerset, said his name beat the Guinness Book of Records' longest personal name registered on a birth certificate by 24 letters.

However, he looks likely to have been beaten out by Autumn Sullivan Corbett Fitzsimmons Jeffries Hart Burns Johnson Willard Dempsey Tunney Schmeling Sharkey Carnera Baer Braddock Louis Charles Walcott Marciano Patterson Johansson Liston Clay Frazier Foreman Brown, a 1-year-old from Wolverhampton, whose parents sensibly decided to giver her 25 middle names

Dogs turn upside down for art

Thousands of websites feature funny pictures of dogs – but this one has turned the idea on its head.
Upside Down Dogs offers a range of topsy-turvy canines, all photographed the wrong way up.

The site was set up by Graham Blache, a 24-year-old web developer from San Franciso.

He was inspired after taking some photos of his one-year-old English bulldog, Wallace, who is inclined to recline on his back.

'As an English bulldog he is blessed with excessive jowls and we always found his droopiness quite hil- arious when inverted,' explained Mr Blache.

'I had some great upside-down shots of him sitting around and one day the idea popped into my head on a whim.

'The site launched on October 14 about 20 minutes after I came up with the idea.'

Even in an era of animal website saturation, Upside Down Dogs has done remarkably well, attracting 500,000 hits from users all over the world.

The puppy photos just keep coming in.

'I have received hundreds of pictures so far and most of them are hilarious,' said Mr Blache. 'It's great because it's pretty easy to take your own and dog owners love to photograph their pets.'

He also summed up the magic formula for the perfect picture – 'Any drooped-faced upside-down dog with excess face meat.'

He added: 'It seems that droopy and traditionally “ugly” dogs tend to make the best upside-down dogs.

'They say people tend to look like their dogs so maybe I shouldn't be so vocal about this as I think my dog makes a great upside-down dog.'

He described Wallace as 'a smelly, hilarious lummox of an English bulldog'.

See pictures of all the dogs on http://upsidedowndogs.com

James Bond fan shows love with tats

One fan has created a very special bond with his favourite secret agent.
Clarke Reynolds spent more than ten hours in the tattooist's chair getting his two favourite Bonds – Sir Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan – put on his thighs.

The 27-year-old had expected a bit of needle from friends and his mother but few were surprised.

'Now I've had them done my mum thinks they're great,' said the marked man.

The graduate's link with Bond is rooted in his family – the submarine his father served on appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me, starring Sir Roger Moore.

'Dad used to tell that story a lot,' said the movie fan from Portsmouth.

The infatuation grew and he spent last week watching the entire Bond back catal­ogue ahead of the release of the latest instalment, Quantum Of Solace.

Mr Reynolds is now debating whether to have a tattoo of Daniel Craig.

'There's no room left on my legs so I'll have to decide where to put it,' he said.

Boy breaks into police station

The long arm of the law didn't have to reach too far to arrest one Australian teenager, who was caught breaking into a police station in the early hours of Monday.

Officers working in the back of the police station in a suburb of the southern city of Adelaide heard the front door glass being smashed and found the 16-year old in the front hall.

"A teenage boy has discovered the quickest way of getting arrested is to break into a police station," South Australia state police said in a statement on its website.

About AUS$2,000 (£840) of damage was caused and the boy was denied bail, the statement said.

A police spokesman added the youth did not give a reason for his actions, and may have had "a bit too much to drink."

Motorist regrets explosive cigarette

A motorist has vowed to quit smoking after his liquid gas powered car exploded when he lit up at the wheel.

Peter Tidbury escaped with minor burns after his Peugeot 607 went up in a fireball when he lit a cigarette.

The door panels were blown out, pieces of windscreen were hurled 50ft and nearby homes were evacuated for fear of further explosions.

Woman refuses sweets to pro-Obama kids

A woman in Michigan refused Halloween sweets to trick-or-treating children whose parents support Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, leaving some children in tears.

Shirley Nagel passed out candy Friday on the scary holiday, but only to those who shared her support for Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his vice presidential pick Sarah Palin.

Television station WJBK says that a sign posted outside Nagel's house in suburban Detroit served this notice to children seeking treats: 'No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters or kids of supporters.'

Nagel told WJBK that 'Obama's scary.' When asked about children who were turned away empty-handed and crying, she said: 'Oh well.

Everybody has a choice.'

Current polls suggest that Barack Obama has a 16 point lead in Michigan, after the McCain campaign withdrew from the state in early October.

Toilet gag has a sticky end

Doctors have seen some strange things in their time but imagine their surprise when they had to free a man from a toilet seat.

They were called in when the unlucky 35-year-old found himself stuck to the stainless steel public toilet after a prankster smeared it with superglue.

An ambulance crew couldn't free the man so they removed the toilet and took him to hospital still attached to the seat.

A doctor used special chemicals to free the man while he was still inside the ambulance after the ordeal on Saturday afternoon.

'It appears as though someone left glue on it,' said an ambulance spokesman.

'The victim appeared to be none the worse for his ordeal other than being somewhat embarrassed.'

The toilet, meanwhile, was returned to the public conveniences in Brierley Hill near Dudley, West Midlands.

Groom Stops Wedding With Blaze

A reluctant groom set fire to the hotel where he was due to get married to avoid having to go through with the wedding.

Tatsuhiko Kawata had gone along with marriage plans despite already having a wife, the Yomiuri newspaper in Japan said.

Kawata, 39, decided to burn down the Risonare resort hotel rather than get hitched in front of 80 guests.

He reportedly told police: "I thought if I set a fire I wouldn't have to go through with the wedding."

Guests at the hotel were evacuated and no one was injured when he started the fire in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Kawata had been due to tie the knot later in the day at the hotel in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo.

He was arrested after suddenly cancelling the event and behaving suspiciously.

Government's Tips For Prostitutes

Prostitutes in Brazil should be prepared to perform fantasies and seduce with affectionate nicknames, according government advice.

The Labour Ministry website issued tips for workers in the sex trade, which is legal in Brazil.

It also advised prostitutes they should be able to "demonstrate a capacity to communicate in a foreign language".

The ministry said it aimed to promote the human rights of prostitutes.

But critics said the site went too far, and its contents are due to be toned down.

A spokeswoman for the ministry said: "The information was created with the help of non-government organisations and the prostitutes themselves."

But she confirmed that the language and some of the explicit tips on the site would be re-written before the year is out.

The site, which started up in 2002, also gives prostitutes advice on how to negotiate condom use with customers, information on HIV and encourages women to denounce violence.

Opponents said the site encouraged prostitution.

Law professor Luiz Flavio Gomes told the O Globo newspaper: "What is on the site gives the impression of an apology for sexual exploitation."