Tuesday 31 May 2011

Goldilocks??

Police hunt "Goldilocks"

Police appealed for help on Friday in tracing a suspected burglar they have dubbed "Goldilocks" because he breaks into houses, eats food and then has a sleep.

Essex detectives said they were trying to trace Jesse Dobinson who is suspected of carrying out two burglaries at a house in Wickford, northeast of London, in February and March.

"On both occasions beds in the property were slept in and food eaten before items, including electrical goods, were stolen," police said in a statement.

Unlike the fairytale character, Dobinson is also wanted in connection with an assault and a knifepoint robbery.

Monday 30 May 2011

Puppy……Not!

Pig farmer Tem Sosa tries to get rid of 'worst dog ever' in web ad

Pig farmer Tem Sosa is giving away her pet border collie, Bob, for free and has made no qualms about the thieving, bad-tempered dog's wonky teeth and bad breath in her frank advert.

Evil Bob would love to find the perfect home as I have put up with him for nearly ten years and can’t take much more,’ she wrote on the second-hand sales website Preloved.

‘He is probably the worst dog you will ever meet. He started life as a failed mountain rescue dog – probably peed on the climber and stole their Kendal mint cake.

‘He has caused nothing but trouble here as he doesn’t fit in well with a large group of dogs.

‘He looks older than his years, has wonky teeth, bad breath and a bad attitude. He is terrified of cats, snaps at horses’ heels and nips pigs.

‘He should not be left unsupervised indoors as he steals food off the side, licks the cooker and pees at terrier height so as not to get the blame.’

Friends of Mrs Sosa posted entries on her Facebook site asking if she was joking.

Rich Kemp wrote: ‘You don’t mean that! Bob’s your son! You’d be lost without him and his awful habits.’

But the 38-year-old from Downham Market, Norfolk, responded: ‘I so do mean it! Managed to palm him off on some fool for three months but unfortunately he is back.’

Others joked how it was the ‘worst advert ever’ and that Mrs Sosa would never be free of her dog after being so honest about his behaviour.

Mrs Sosa did concede that Bob was not all bad: ‘His few good qualities are he travels quietly in the car and will lie under your desk at work all day,’ she added.

Sunday 29 May 2011

Big Mac???

Horse and carriage turned away from McDonald's

A woman says she was refused service at a McDonald's drive-through because she was riding a horse and carriage -- luckily she wasn't far from a friendly KFC.

Debbie Murden from Derbyshire had driven her two-wheeled carriage to the drive-thru window at the Alfreton branch and ordered her burgers and milkshakes.

Having done this before, she didn't think it would be a problem, but staff said that due to health and safety rules they couldn't serve her -- prompting her to angrily head off to a nearby KFC.

Commenting on the incident, a spokesperson for McDonald's said it was company policy not to serve customers in horse-drawn carriages… which suggests this happens more often than we would have thought.

Saturday 28 May 2011

Woof-Woof?

Nazis tried to train dogs to talk

The Germans viewed canines as being almost as intelligent as humans and attempted to build an army of fearsome 'speaking' dogs, extraordinary new research shows.

Hitler hoped the clever creatures would learn to communicate with their SS masters - and he even had a special dog school set up to teach them to talk.

The incredible findings show Nazi officials recruited so-called educated dogs from all over Germany and trained them to speak and tap out signals using their paws.

One mutt was said to have uttered the words 'Mein Fuhrer' when asked who Adolf Hitler was.

Another 'spoke' by tapping letters of the alphabet with his paws and was said to have speculated about religion and learnt poetry.

he Germans hoped to use the animals for the war effort, such as getting them to work alongside the SS and guard concentration camps to free up officers.

The bizarre 'Wooffan SS' experiment has come to light after years of painstaking research by academic Dr Jan Bondeson into unique and amazing dogs in history.

Dr Bonderson, from Cardiff University, visited Berlin to scour obscure periodicals to build up a bizarre - but true - account of Nazi ideas.

Hitler was a well-known dog lover and had two German Shepherds, called Blondi and Bella. He famously killed Blondi moments before committing suicide in his bunker in 1945.

The evil dictator was said to have been keen to use dogs for the war effort and supported the dog school which was called the Tier-Sprechschule ASRA.

The school, based in Leutenburg near Hannover and led by headmistress Margarethe Schmitt, was set up in the 1930s and continued throughout the war years.

It was reported to have had some success, with dogs tapping out words with their paws.

Some of them were able to imitate the human voice and one, when asked who Adolf Hitler was, is said to have replied 'Mein Fuhrer'.

The forerunner of them all was Rolf, an Airedale terrier who 'spoke' through tapping his paw against a board, each letter of the alphabet being represented by a certain number of taps.

He was said to have speculated about religion, learnt foreign languages, wrote poetry and asked a visiting noblewoman 'could you wag your tail?'

The patriotic German dog even expressed a wish to join the army, because he disliked the French.

Another dog, a Dachschund named Kurwenal, even received a visit from a troop of 28 uniformed youths from the Nazi animalprotection organisation on his birthday.

He was said to speak using a different number of barks for each letter, and told his biographer he would be voting for Hindenburg.

Another dog, a German pointer named Don, went one step further - imitating a human voice to bark "Hungry! Give me cakes", in German.

The incredible story of Germany's educated dogs has now been revealed in full by Dr Bondeson, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University in his book "Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities."

He said: "It is absolutely extraordinary stuff.

"In the 1920s, Germany had numerous 'new animal psychologists' who believed dogs were nearly as intelligent as humans, and capable of abstract thinking and communication.

"When the Nazi party took over, one might have thought they would be building concentration camps to lock these fanatics up, but instead they were actually very interested in their ideas.

"Part of the Nazi philosophy was that there was a strong bond between humans and nature - they believed a good Nazi should be an animal friend.

"Indeed, when they started interning Jews, the newspapers were flooded with outraged letters from Germans wondering what had happened to the pets they left behind.

"Hitler himself was praised for his attitude to animals and Goering was a forerunner of animal protection. They seemed to think nothing of human rights, but lots about animal rights.

"There were some very strange experiments going on in wartime Germany, with regard to dog-human communication.

"Nazi animal psychologists worked with the educated dogs, and there was even a school to teach animals to communicate, with dogs supplied by the office of the Reichsführer-SS.

"My guess would be that they were intended to work with the SS or be used as guard dogs in concentration camps.

"Hitler was himself interested in the prospect of using educated dogs in the war effort, and he advised representatives of the German army to study their usefulness in the field.

"Still, it appears to have been very early days - there is no evidence it ever actually came to fruition and that the SS were walking around with talking dogs.

"It is really remarkable and fascinating insight into a hitherto unknown facet of Nazi Germany."

Dr Bondeson's book, Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities, also includes chapters on acting dogs, travelling dogs, turnspit dogs, holy dogs and exceptionally faithful dogs.

Friday 27 May 2011

Cluck-Cluck!

Farmer gives chickens 'glasses'

A Chinese farmer has given his chickens specially made glasses to stop them fighting.

Zhang Xiaolong says his aggressive roosters have become much more peaceful since he gave them the plastic glasses.

The glasses are actually blinkers which prevent the birds seeing straight ahead - making direct confrontation more difficult.

Instead they have to look around the sides which makes them more cautious.

Xiaolong, of Xiamen, southern China's Fujian Province, said: "My roosters were always fighting each other - I was losing ten birds a day.

"I was inspired by my own glasses and thought if I could just block their view so they can't see each other directly, they wouldn't have fights.

"It has worked really well. They can't attack each other so confrontations have been minimised."

Thursday 26 May 2011

Red Faced?

Swearing parrot leaves zoo keepers red-faced

A ‘fowl-mouthed’ parrot has left his keepers red-faced after a string of visitors reported him – for SWEARING at them.

Jasper the 11 year-old scarlet macaw has hurled a volley of abuse at a string of visitors who approach him in his cage at Dartmoor Zoo, Devon.

He can be heard throughout the zoo squawking ‘b****r off’ and w****r to visitors who come too close or try and speak to him.

Jasper’s keepers have become so fed up with his foul-mouthed antics they have been forced to try and tone down his language amid fears he may upset kids.

Dartmoor spokesman Tim Steward said: ”It can be pretty embarrassing when he gets into his flow.

”Jasper’s by far and away the loudest animal we have here and you can literally hear him from anywhere in the grounds and his swearwords echo around the zoo.

”Every so often you’ll hear him swear at the top of his lungs and you don’t know where to look.

”So far people have been pretty good about it and we haven’t received too many complaints – I think most have seen the funny side.

”But it’s not ideal and we’re just hoping he picks up a few more words and increases his vocabulary.

”There’s not much we can do but we’re hoping he tones it down a bit at some point.”

Jasper was brought to the zoo as a chick almost 11 years ago, although he has only recently started swearing at visitors.

Scarlet macaws are native to central and south America where numbers of the bird have suffered from deforestation and hunting in its native countries.

The birds are renowned for their ability to repeat words and short phrases and keepers believe the language has been picked up after mimicking mischievous visitors.

Tim added: ”I’d love to think this was simply a case of him picking up the odd word here or there but I fear this isn’t the case.

”I’ve no idea what we can do to tone it down but we have to do something. It’s embarrassing.”

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Dog Board

Man fined for skateboarding dog

A Brighton man has been fined £80 and threatened with legal action for failing to keep his skateboarding dog on a lead.

Jonathan Fell's Lakeland terrier Bodhi has become a familiar sight in the seaside town as he performs his kerbside stunts.

But council officials, who have already threatened Mr Fell with an Asbo, have now fined him after two women tripped over his skateboard.

Mr Fell, 51, a landscape gardener, said: "Bodhi is always under control. He loves skateboarding and is not a criminal.

"It's something that makes people laugh. I never trained him to skateboard, it's just what he loves to do."

A council spokesman said Mr Fell has 14 days to pay up, otherwise he will be forced to appear before magistrates and could face a £1,000 fine.

He said: "We know Bodhiâ s antics are an amusing sight and the dog and spectators appear to enjoy it.

"But when people start getting hurt and we receive complaints we have a legal duty to act. Bodhi remains free to skate in local parks - but not in dog-free areas."

Bodhi has become a YouTube sensation with more than 20,000 followers, and has even appeared in a brief clip on ITV show Britain's Got Talent.

Monday 23 May 2011

Dog Tired


Bored dog gets fed up of walkies

Will and Jo Erwin thought Bingo's number was up when the six-year-old shih tzu disappeared from their home in Lostwithiel, Cornwall.
At the time the Erwins were unaware that Bingo had wandered down to the local railway station and boarded a train.
But after a frantic four-hour search, a passenger on a train found Bingo curled up asleep – 50km (30 miles) away from his owners.
The passenger carried him off the train and took him to a rescue centre in Plympton, Devon.
Staff there saw Bingo's picture on their missing animal website and he was reunited with owners.
49-year-old Will Erwin says this isn't the first time the dog has tried to make a break for freedom – he regularly pursues tourists eating their fish and chips.

Sunday 22 May 2011

Croaked It!!


German man accused of shooting neighbour's frogs
A German man will be in court Thursday after his neighbour's frogs croaked for the last time before being shot during mating season.
The newspaper Rheinische Post reports last July, a 47-year-old man allegedly shot two of his neighbour's pond frogs with an air gun around 2 a.m. One of the frogs died instantly, while the other died the next day.
The two men involved in the froggy fight lived in the same housing complex in Krefeld, a small city near the country's western border. Both men have gardens and ponds, but only the one man had frogs. He says they moved there on their own from a nearby wetland. On July 1, the frogs began to croak, an annual occurrence that is part of mating season.
"I heard the shooting at night and knew immediately what was going on," Andreas van Straelen, 45, said of his frogs.
He went outside and found his frogs with bullet holes. He wrapped one of the frogs and put it in the freezer as evidence.
The accused, who is not named in the article, wouldn't comment on the case.


The accused's lawyer alleges van Straelen shot his own frogs.

Saturday 21 May 2011

And Now Class!!!


Teachers caught in the act in school classroom
Two high school teachers face disciplinary action after a student caught them in a compromising position on school premises.
School-board officials are being tight-lipped about exactly what the teachers were doing when they were surprised by the student and a colleague at Veilleux High School in Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, south of Quebec City.
Officials say the student and teacher were looking for a missing USB key in a schoolroom. When they opened the door, they caught the two teachers in what the board describes as an "inappropriate situation."
The board said it confirmed the incident to quell rumours that had reverberated through the community all week. Concerned parents had contacted the board after the teachers' tryst was reported on two Quebec City radio stations.
School principal Jean-Francois Giguere would not say if the teachers caught in the act are married to other people.

Friday 20 May 2011

Better Late Then Never?

Stolen car found 36 years later

A stolen car has been recovered 36 years later in the US.

The Chevy Camaro SS was pinched in Newark, New Jersey and was recently found thousands of miles away in Santa Maria, California.

Keith Williams bought the classic vehicle from a seller on eBay and contacted the California Highway Patrol after certain features of the car didn't match the model.

Police discovered it was stolen on July 8, 1975, and are tracing the registration in hopes of finding the thief.

Original owner Janice Maffucci said the car was stolen from the post office where her father worked and she was shocked it had been recovered after so long.

Thursday 19 May 2011

Hey……It’s Natural?

Farting schoolboys kicked off bus

Two American boys have been suspended from their school bus for farting.

The cheeky 13-year-old pupils were renowned for raising huge laughs from their fellow students by passing wind during their hour-long journey to and from school.

However, administrators at Canal Winchester Middle School in Ohio decided enough was enough and took away their school transportation privileges.

Parent Jamie Nichols said: "It's very laughable, that's what it is.

"When it happens, it just happens. It's not intentional."

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Rabbit….Rabbit!!

Driver swerves to avoid rabbit, ends up in swimming pool

Martina Boller, 42, told police in Grafenwoerth, Austria, she'd braked and steered suddenly when she realised the bewildered bunny wasn't going to move.

One firefighter said: 'She managed to land exactly in the pool which would have been quite a stunt if she'd meant to do it.

'Apart from being very wet and very embarrassed the driver was not hurt.'

Gardening…..Far Too Dangerous!

Woman killed by garden ornament

A British woman died when a heavy garden ornament cause her to drown in a shallow pond.

Norman Lunn came home to find his partner Ann Newton facedown in the water which is only four feet by four feet wide and one-and-a-half feet deep.

An ornamental tree trunk - which has an eerie face carved into it - had hooked onto the 58-year-old teacher, pinning her in the water causing her to drown in the couple's garden in Sunderland.

Norman said: "It's such a bizarre death. It has broken my heart.

"Her slippers were in the grass. She must have been kicking to try and get out. I tried to pull her out, but I couldn't."

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Phone Home……Not!

Drink driver mistakes cigarettes for phone

A drunk driver has come the butt of a world-wide joke - after he was filmed by police trying to make phone calls from a packet of cigarettes.

The film - shot by traffic cops in the Russian capital, Moscow - has become a bizarre world-wide hit with more than 170,000 hits on YouTube.

The unidentified driver - pulled over for driving erratically - first tries to speak into his hand to make a call.

But when he realises that isn't working he pulls out a cigarette packet and in front of the bemused cops apparently believes he's having detailed phone conversations - first with his father, and then a friend.

"Just deal with the situation," he says before hanging up and passing out with his head slumped on a policeman's shoulder.

When asked what he's doing the clearly drunk driver says: "Well, we were driving and we were almost there and now here we are."

Monday 16 May 2011

Bum Deal?

Man tricked into being given an enema

US police admit they are baffled after a woman tricked a partially sighted man into letting her give him an enema in his home.

"You are not, you are definitely not, going to believe this," Police Sgt Spencer Crum told journalists in Sonoma, California.

The 53-year-old man told police he was in his apartment when a woman appeared in his doorway, reports the Sonoma News.

She told him she was there to give him an enema. Because the man had recently undergone intestinal surgery, he thought that sounded possible.

The woman deftly guided him to his bedroom, had him drop his pants and lie face down on his bed. She then gave the man an enema and promptly left.

After a few days, the man - reflecting that the woman did not leave a card or any other identifying information - grew suspicious and contacted police.

An investigating officer promptly called the man's doctor and was told no enema had been prescribed, ordered or approved.

Sonoma police turned the case over to the domestic and sexual assault unit of the Sonoma Sheriff's Office who have yet to make sense of the incident.

Sunday 15 May 2011

Dead Sexy!!


Sexy Cora's gravestone 'too sexy', say cemetery officials

A 4ft high marble angel statue and pictures of former porn star Sexy Cora, who died during a boob job operation earlier this year, have been deemed 'too sexy' and ordered for removal by cemetery bosses.

The 23-year-old deceased star of German Big Brother - whose real name is Carolin Wosnitza - was buried in Hamburg's Ohlsdorf Cemetery following her untimely death in January when she slipped into a coma after complications during a breast op.
Her angel-shaped £15,000 gravestone is no ordinary fare, with flowers and photos - including one or two of the more raunchy variety - adorning her last resting place, along with the distinctive statue.
However, it has upset cemetery officials who claim it 'breaches guidelines' and must be removed immediately.
Ms Cora's husband, Tim Wosnitza, is set against it though, and has even gone to the extreme of getting hired help to stand guard in order to make sure the mini shrine is not removed on the quiet during the night.
'She was a beautiful woman. Who can take offence?' Mr Wosnitza said.
'I have employed security guards so they don't come in the middle of the night.'
Officials continue to argue that the grave's markings are inappropriate and could be deemed offensive by other mourners visiting the cemetery, which is one of the largest in the world.

Saturday 14 May 2011

Education…..It’s Wonderful!

Dozy Three Peaks climbers pick wrong mountain, get injured, then lost

They started the Three Peaks Challenge by climbing the wrong mountain – and it all went downhill from there.

he dozy climbers scaled the Highland peak of Stob Ban instead of Ben Nevis – more than 5km (3 miles) away – after thinking it looked the same.

Their tale of woe continued when they headed south to the Lake District, where three of the six injured themselves and two more got lost taking on Scafell Pike.

Mercifully, ‘Team Wayne’ decided not to even bother with Mount Snowdon in Wales.

But they still managed to raise £10,000 for a leukaemia charity in memory of their friend Wayne Wilson, who died from the disease in January aged just 26.

One of the team, Damien Davis, admitted Stob Ban – more than 300m (1,000ft) lower than Ben Nevis but much steeper – was not what they had expected.

He said: ‘We’d been told that Ben Nevis, although the highest, is a fairly easy climb, but it was like a vertical ascent.

‘We had a gut feeling we might have taken a wrong turn but from ground level those mountains all look about the same height.’

When pal Mike Murray reached the summit first he phoned Damian to say: ‘I hate to break this to you but this ain’t it’.’

Thursday 12 May 2011

A Bed For The Night?

Mystery snorer is hidden tree woman

Baffled shoppers in Lanzhou, northern China, couldn't work out where a snoring noise was coming from until they looked up.

And there - 20ft above them - was a woman curled up and fast asleep perched on a narrow tree branch.

One shopper said: 'We wouldn't have known where it was coming from except one of her shoes fell off and hit someone on the head.'

Police eventually persuaded her to come down to earth with sandwiches and a bottle of water.

But it seems police in southern China are less patient with people perched in high up places.

In Hechi shocked shoppers got a right jolt of eye voltage when a naked protester clambered up an electricity pylon to complain about a police crackdown on beggars.

After hours of negotiations, fed up cops shot him with a wildlife tranquilliser gun and caught his body in a sling before lowering him to the ground.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

Off With His Head!

Trial for theft of 99-cent hotdog

An American man was acquitted of stealing a 99-cent hotdog.

John Richardson picked up the snack and ate it while shopping in a grocery store in Washington and forgot to pay for it when he got to the checkout.

Managers at the shop confronted him and called the police.

It took a bemused jury five minutes to reach their 'not guilty' verdict when the case went to trial.

Despite jurors saying it was obvious John forgot to pay, prosecutor Julie McKay tried hard to convince them otherwise by pointing out he refused a $200 civil penalty to drop the case.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

It’s For You?

Man answers phone during pizza store break-in

A man who broke into a pizza shop in Adelaide answered the phone while in the premises.

Police said the store in Bank Street in the city was broken into just after midnight, activating an alarm.

When the alarm monitoring company rang the pizza store, the offender picked up the phone.

Police arrived and arrested a 27-year-old man outside the store.

Monday 9 May 2011

Phew….Pass the “Tinnies”

Not all young Australian men want more sex?

Unbelievable as it may sound, not all young men want more sex.

According to a survey of Australian men, 12 percent between the ages of 16 and 24 said they wanted less sex -- the highest proportion of any age group.

"Although it's a minority, it's still interesting that it's more of them (than any other age group), which is not that sort of myth, boys not getting enough sex and dying to get it," Juliet Richters, Associate Professor in Sexual Health, University of New South Wales, told Reuters.

Richters and a team of researchers from around Australia surveyed some 4,300 heterosexual men and 4,400 women between the ages of 16 and 64.

She said another survey five years ago showed similar results.

Only 31 percent of men in that age group said they wanted more sex, the lowest of any other age group as well.

"It may well be that they are being overwhelmed by girls of much the same age who are madly in love and very keen," she said.

"It also takes men of that age about a year or longer to commit to a relationship."

More predictably, the survey found that 57 percent of men between 35 and 44 wanted more sex compared with only 28 percent of women, while 14 percent of women said they wanted less.

Half of men aged 55 to 64 wanted more sex, while only 27 percent of women in the same age group felt the same.

"The evolutionary explanation is women are only keen on sex when they can conceive. A social explanation is a whole lot of stuff, including time, pressure, tiredness," Richter said.

"I mean, sex is a leisure activity after all."

Sunday 8 May 2011

Italian..Stallion..Not!!

Italian sues runaway bride for 500,000 euros

An Italian groom left hanging at the altar after his runaway bride changed her mind at the last minute because she was in love with another man is now suing her for 500,000 euros (743,000 dollars).

The 32-year-old said he had suffered emotional and material damages after booking a villa for the wedding outside Rome, reserving a honeymoon on a Pacific island and refurbishing an apartment to his fiancee's tastes.

Wednesday's report by Italy's ANSA news agency said the man, referred to only by his first name, Riccardo, was already in the church when his fiancee's brother told him she would not be coming and the priest cancelled the service.

The report said that Riccardo had hired lawyers and filed a lawsuit, which emphasised that he and his family had borne all the costs for the wedding.

Saturday 7 May 2011

Hitching A Ride…Not!!

Man attacked after refusing woman ride

A man who refused to give a drunk woman a lift in this northern Ontario city was attacked and had his vehicle damaged, police say.

Officers were called to a convenience store around 11 p.m. Tuesday after the woman allegedly damaged the man's windshield wiper, then slapped and kicked the man.

The man fended off the attack, police said.

Police arrested a 30-year-old woman.

While officers were driving her to police headquarters, she kicked out the back window of the police cruiser.

She has been charged with two counts of mischief under $5,000 and one count each of assault and resisting arrest.

Friday 6 May 2011

A Strange Delivery?

Postman poos on route

A mailman in the US has been suspended after he was caught defecating in a yard on camera.

Don Derfler, who lives in the Oregon neighbourhood where the act took place, was outraged when he saw the man foul on a nearby property and took photographs for evidence.

He said: "He started pulling his pants down and started defecating, and at that point I grabbed my camera and started to take pictures.

"This is how they respect our property? It's just not right, and it's also a biohazard."

A spokesman for the US Postal Service said: "We're taking this very seriously, and I really want to apologise to our customers and to the public."

Thursday 5 May 2011

Oh….Bugger!

Swearing may be good for pain relief

The British Psychological Society is unveiling research that suggests that swearing could be good for your health.

At the Society's annual conference in Glasgow next month, they will present information that suggests that cursing can aid in pain relief if used sparingly.

Keele University's School of Psychology conducted the research in question, and found that a group of people who swore rarely were able to withstand pain for 45 seconds longer while swearing than when they weren't allowed to swear.

"Swearing provokes an emotional flight-or-flight response in the face of stress," lead researcher Dr Richard Stephens told The Scotsman. "This study shows that if people want to benefit from swearing they should save it up for when it really matters, when they are in genuine pain."

Despite the results of the research, Stephens claims that advocating the use of swearing in pain management could cause more problems than it is worth for the health industry.

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Cover up?

Barcelona to fine bikini-wearers on the streets

Tourists in Barcelona who wander off the beach onto the streets in just their swimming costumes -- or even less -- will now face stiff fines.

The city hall voted on Friday to ban "nudity or virtual nudity in public places" and limit swimming costumes to swimming pools, beaches, adjacent roads and beach walks.

Nudists who stray off their designated areas of the beach will be subject to fines of 300 to 500 euros ($450 to 750).

Those who wander into the streets in bikinis, swimming trunks or swimsuits face fines of 120 to 300 euros.

Authorities in the city, where the port and the beach areas are adjacent to the historic old town, earlier this year put up posters discouraging such behavior.

They showed a couple in swimming costumes with a red line across it next to another couple dressed normally but without the red line.

With the new regulations, city authorities hope to "ensure coexistence between citizens in public areas," but denied that they are "telling people how they should dress," said the city councillor in charge of security, Assumpta Escarp.

The owners of some tourist shops welcomed the move, but defenders of nudism were outraged.

"It's a ban that goes beyond laws that decriminalized nudity 22 years ago," said Jacit Ribas i Deix, the head of an association for the defense of nudity and who became well known in Barcelona for walking and cycling naked through the city.

But Egidio Pagliotta, 68, a ice-cream salesman, said "there was a lot of permissiveness and (the new regulation) will be better for everyone."

Rajich Monarni, a 38-year-old Indian who sells shirts in the old town, was also pleased.

"They were more and more of them in the streets. I approve of the fact that they can now be booked."

The beaches and cultural attractions of the capital of Spain's northeastern Catalonia region draw millions of foreign visitors each year

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Hey…..They’re French!

French team sent to wrong country for Hockey Worlds

“I just wanted to say, good luck. We’re all counting on you.” Let’s hear it for Air France, which managed to transport the French National Hockey Team on Tuesday without losing their luggage. However, the team was flown to the wrong country.

A booking error sent the French team on a flight to Poland instead of Slovakia. So the players had to take a bus ride from Krakow to Kosice for the event.

Just a mere 185 miles. Um, is there a movie on this bus?

Monday 2 May 2011

Off Line??

Elderly woman arrested for crashing internet

A pensioner from Georgia is facing charges for disrupting internet services in her home country and neighbouring nation Armenia.

According to AFP, the woman was scavenging for scrap metal on March 28 when she damaged the fibre-optic cable linking the two countries. As a result, thousands of people could not access the internet for around 12 hours.

The 75-year-old could now face up to three years of imprisonment after admitting to the crime.
Zura Gvenetadze, a Georgian spokesperson, said: "She found the cable while collecting scrap metal and cut it with a view to stealing it.

"Taking into account her advancing years, she has been released pending the end of the investigation and subsequent trial."

The cable belongs to Georgian Railway Telecom, and a service provider spokesperson responded: "I cannot understand how this lady managed to find and damage the cable. It has robust protection and such incidents are extremely rare."

Sunday 1 May 2011

Her Number’s Up?

Rude number plate rapped

An Australian woman was told to get rid of her personalised number plate because her name translates to a rude word.

Kristen Perry's family and friends call her Kiki - which translates to "vagina" in Tagalog, a language used by Filipinos.

She received a letter from the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) in New South Wales demanding she show "just cause" for having the word emblazoned on her car, or the plate would be confiscated.

Kiki said: "At first I thought it was a joke, but then I realised it was actually quite serious and that my number plates would be taken off me if I didn't respond appropriately."