Woman wins lottery - for fourth time

  

A Las Vegas woman has continued an amazing run of luck after pocketing a fourth multi-million dollar payout from a lottery scratch card.

Joan Ginther's £6.6m win from a £30 scratchcard was the fourth time she has won a seven-figure sum through playing lottery.
The 63-year-old's win has had US news networks calling her the world's luckiest ever lottery player.
ABC News said Ms Ginther's first win came in 1993 when she won £3.5m. She won a further £1.3m in 2006, then £2m in 2008.
Incredibly, three of the tickets were bought from the same small convenience store in the town of Bishop, Texas.
Friends said Ms Ginther would return to her home town to visit her father and would drop in at the local store to buy a scratch card.
Store manager Bob Solis said they sell 1,000 lottery tickets a day, adding: "This is a very lucky store."


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Seagull thinks he's a cat

 

A confused seagull is having something of an identity crisis - apparently believing that he is a cat.

Mr Pooh was adopted by June and Steve Grimwood after he fell down their chimney as a baby.
The couple discovered the soot-covered youngster sitting in their fireplace while investigating a strange rustling.
At first they took the chick back outside, placing it on top of the roof of their home in Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex.
However, it soon became apparent that Pooh's mother had abandoned him so they decided to hand rear him themselves.
Mr Grimwood, 52, said the couple's three cats were extremely wary of the new arrival at first.
However, he added, it wasn't long before Mr Pooh was happily eating cat food out of a bowl with them.
Since then the now three-year-old gull has become firm friends with felines Mitzi, Gus and Henry.
Mr Pooh has now flown the coop, setting up home with a female on the Grimwood's roof.
However, he returns to visit his human and feline friends three times a day - at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Great great gran celebrates 130th

 

A great-great grandmother says she has just celebrated her 130th birthday - making her the world's oldest person.

Antisa Khvichava lives in a remote mountain village in Georgia with her 40-year-old grandson, reports The Sun.
The vodka-drinking pensioner feasted on corn porridge and spiced chicken with her family to celebrate.
Antisa, who still wears bright red lipstick, said: "I've always been healthy and worked, at home and at the farm."
Her birth certificate was lost during a century of war and revolution - but officials say passport documents prove her age.
National register spokesman Georgiy Meurnishvili said Mrs Khvichava was born on July 8, 1880, and retired from her job as a tea and corn picker in 1965, when she was 85.

Authorities visited Mrs Khvichava in her village of Sachire and displayed two Soviet-era documents noting her date of birth.
France's Eugenie Blanchard - who is 114 years old - is recognised as the world's oldest person as officials have yet to check Antisa's claim.
        

This sofa's as hard as concrete!

 

An Edinburgh man is hoping to be sitting comfy after recreating the Chesterfield sofa in concrete as garden furniture.

Steve Jones is looking to get his concrete collection on sale in garden centres by the end of the year.
He insists his concrete sofa is comfortable - and says it even comes with a 50p concrete coin stuck down the back of its cushions.
The hollow concrete couch is made by taking a mould from a genuine leather one and casting it into a single package in a week-long process.
Mr Jones, is producing the unique sofas through his Edinburgh-based company Gray Concrete, along with business partner Jon Gray, 39.
He said: "The mould making techniques pick up very very accurate detail, so every little fold in the leather is picked out, and the surface to the touch does make it feel leathery - just harder.
"There is a fun aspect to it too in making something out of the wrong material, such as creating a piece of soft furnishing out of concrete.
"We believe the sofa has commercial legs on its own - it has had a lot of positive feedback and we can see it going into a lot of gardens as an interesting piece of furniture.
"We have the potential to make 100s of them and we are thinking of selling them full time."


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Road melts in heatwave

 

Dozens of vehicles stuck to a road in heatwave-hit China after the tarmac melted in the hot sun.

The road, in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, had just been resurfaced the previous day, reports the Zhengzhou Evening Post.
It melted in 40C temperatures which saw the street surface temperature reach as high as 70C.
Vehicles including cars, buses, taxi cabs and ambulances began sticking to a 200m stretch of the road.
Plastic sheeting had to be laid as a temporary surface to get the traffic moving again.
Motorist Lao Yang said his car seemed to get heavier and heavier as he drove along the street.
"After getting out of the car to check what the problem was, I found both front wheels were covered in melted tarmac," he said.
"I had to lift the car with a jack, and take off the tyres to remove the asphalt."
An ambulance and a taxi cab nearly crashed into each other after losing control in the sticky conditions.
"It's lucky that our ambulance was empty, otherwise the wasted time here may have cost a life," said the ambulance driver.
        

Psychic octopus backs Spain

 

World Cup phenomenon Paul the octopus has predicted that Spain will beat Holland in Sunday's final.

The psychic cephalopod was presented with two boxes containing mussels at the Sea Life centre in Oberhausen, the Spanish flag on one and the Dutch flag on the other.
After lengthy consideration Paul snaffled the mussel from the tank bearing the Spanish flag.
'Das Krakenorakel' has correctly predicted the winners of each of the six games Germany played at the 2010 World Cup, including their semi-final defeat to Spain which prompted death threats against the English-born oracle.
However, shortly before the main draw he boosted his chances of avoiding the paella pan by tipping Germany to win their third-place play-off against Uruguay on Saturday night.

Hot monkeys love a lolly

 

Monkeys at a Chinese zoo are cooling off with ice lollies as temperatures reach 40 degrees.

Zhengzhou Zoo hands out two to each parched primate per day, and their keeper explained how they developed a taste for the them.

"The first time they didn't dare try them until we threw some into the water," he said. "A brave one tried it and screamed how good it was, which attracted others to fight for them."

He added that the monkeys now wait patiently for the lollies, and sit in a circle around him as they're handed out.

As the temperatures soar the zoo also provides showers for elephants, and feeds other animals cooling water melon.

China set new 'keepie uppie' record

 

Over 1,000 Chinese people have broken a Guinness world record after juggling footballs for 10 seconds together.

The new record was created over the weekend at Yanbian University when a total of 1,062 participants successfully completed the challenge in China's Jilin Province.
This broke the previous record, set last year in Hungary by 792 people.
Fourteen-year-old Song Zixin was the youngest participant. He said, "To attend this event, I practiced at home every day. The record I made at home is juggling the ball for 303 times without touching the ground."
Wu Xiaohong, the spokeswoman of the Guinness China Office, added, "I see the craze of Jilin fans for football, and their passion and energy also affect me."

Fine for feeding elephants

 

Anyone caught giving food to elephants in Bangkok now faces a £210 fine, with Thailand cracking down on the problem of unauthorised feeding.

Tourists had usually paid handlers around 50p to hand some fruit to the elephant, a sight more common since the decline in industries, such as logging, in which the beasts were put to work.
But city authorities say the practice is dangerous, citing cases of elephants hurting people or falling into drains, reports the Metro.
An official added: "This is to prevent untidiness and danger toward properties and the lives of Bangkok residents."

Model starts political party

 

A Romanian model who wants to improve the country's image has started a new political party for beautiful people.

Sanziana Buruiana wants to heavily tax obese citizens at a rate of 10 Euros per kilo overweight, and punish anybody making 'dumb blonde' jokes, reports the Metro.
The 23-year old said: "Anyone like that needs to be put in prison."
Other plans include a fine of 100 Euros for infidelity, and a law insisting that only models in bikinis are allowed to work as tourist guides.
Buruiana suggests that this would boost Romania's popularity as a travel destination.

Boy falls eight floors playing hide-and-seek

 

An 11-year-old Chinese boy fell eight floors after taking an extreme approach to a game of hide-and-seek.

Lan Lan, from Chongqing, hid on a window sill to avoid detection by friends, but soon lost balance and plummeted towards the ground.
Although the youngster was cushioned by tree branches, he still sustained a fractured skull, damage to his spine and lungs and wounds on his wrists and ankles
After a four-hour operation, Lan Lan was transferred to the ICU. "He is not out of danger," doctor Chen Yingfu told Chongqing Morning Post.
The father said his wife still didn't know the news. "I don't know if she can take it or not."

Artist creates works out of dollar bills

 

A highly-paid businesswoman gave up her job to establish an art career creating works made entirely out of dollar notes.

Irina Truhanova from Latvia sketches an outline before filling it in with snippets of the bills, reports Rex.
Her creations include Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a geisha, a Bentley car and the Statue of Liberty.
Truhanova said: "I wanted to create mosaics that personified freedom, independence, business and capital, and using real US currency seemed to fit this perfectly.
"I received requests for commissions very quickly and within a few months I realised I could stop using my office job to make money and support myself by making money pictures full-time."

Horned man tries to run over landlady

 

A man sporting horns, tatooed eyebrows and earlobe implants has allegedly attempted to run over his landlord.

Heavy metal fan Jesse Thornhill, a 28-year-old from Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been arrested and spent the night in jail before being released on bail of $10,000, reports Metro.
Thornhill was allegedly involved in an argument with his landlord before using his vehicle as a 'dangerous weapon'. The landlady managed to leap out of the way in time.
Thornhill's horns were created via Teflon implants that are inserted to stretch the skin.

Man eats poisonous snake for bet

 

An Indian man has narrowly avoided death after swallowing a poisonous snake in a wager for just over £1.

Zaver Rathod had killed the reptile moments earlier after it bit one of his friends.
He then ate the raw snake for a 100 rupee (£1.39) bet after being encouraged by work colleagues, reports The Times of India.
Rathod was soon rushed to hospital suffering with severe nausea and vomiting.
Had the snake's venom entered the 35-year-old's blood stream, he would almost certainly have died, but doctors successfully removed the contents of his stomach in time.

Man grows freak watermelon

 

A Chinese bus driver has harvested a rare conjoined watermelon in a field near his home in central China.

Xiong Wei, a 25-year-old from Wuhan, has been planting the fruit in his home field for five years.
"It's the first time for me to see such a weird-shaped water melon," said Xiong.
Experts say it's very rare to have such a conjoined water melon.

American man designs toilet car

 

A family in Colorado will never again have to worry about toilet breaks on the road after designing a twin-bowl toilet car.

It took four years and three prototypes for Dave Hersch to perfect his design, inspired by a small 'Hot Wheels' toy car.
It features a 6.5hp motor capable of driving two adults at 30mph and holds six toilet rolls and a magazine rack.
Dave told Rex: "The first version was literally a toilet on top of a go cart. It didn't last past the first turn. The toilet slid off and broke into a million pieces on the road. Porcelain is very fragile I have learned.
"The second version was still a single toilet but had some features like a bolted down toilet, brakes, and a toilet seat. That version didn't make it past the first ride by my friend who flipped it and broke the toilet again."
"Finally the current model was built to be foolproof. Adults take photos and kids jump up and down with excitement. It's a great way to meet all the people in my neighbourhood without all the typical grown-up formalities."

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Canada bans 'sexist' Anderson advert

 

Canada have banned a vegetarian advert featuring Pamela Anderson in a string bikini for being "sexist".

The Anderson-fronted campaign is helping to promote People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), reports Sky.com.
The picture shows the actress covered in butcher's labels such as "rump", "ribs" and "breast".
Canadian officials claimed the banner went against the "battle of equality between men and women".
Anderson slammed the decision. "In some parts of the world, women are forced to cover their whole bodies with burkas - is that next? I didn't think that Canada would be so puritanical."
Peta's senior vice president Dan Mathews added: "I think that city officials are confusing 'sexy' with 'sexist'."