Naked burglars left sex tape clue

Police had an easy job identifying a naked couple who broke into a house and filmed themselves having sex - because they left the camera behind.

The man and woman were caught having sex on camera at a home in Elma, Washington state, when someone arrived to collect the mail while the homeowner was away.
The naked couple fled, but left behind their camera - which enabled Gray Harbor police to identify the two suspects, reports the Seattle Daily Weekly.
"We're not sure what the motivation for the break-in was but it's a fair bet to say narcotics may have been involved," an officer told the Seattle Daily Weekly.
The 39-year-old woman was arrested later that evening. A warrant has also been issued for the 31-year-old man.
And both may face more charges, since the camcorder that was their undoing was also found to be stolen during a separate break-in.

Driver's 30 hour sit-in beats clampers

A London motorist refused to leave his car for 30 hours after wheel campers tried to fine him thousands of pounds.

Haroon Zafaryab, 27, admits he failed to spot a tiny "private property" notice but blasted "bullying clampers" who targeted his Toyota Prius.
And he claimed victory in his marathon battle after the clampers finally agreed to accept £100 to release his car, reports The Sun.
Mr Zafaryab emerged from his local mosque in Wembley, North London, to find it clamped - and a official demanding £100 plus £265 for a tow truck that had been called to haul the car away.
He refused to pay for the tow truck and got in the driver's seat, knowing the car couldn't be moved with him still in it.
Residents in local flats kept him supplied with refreshments as his protest dragged on all afternoon, into the night and continued next day.
During the stand-off, three more clamps were fixed so all his wheels were locked and 40 more tickets - totalling £3,865 - were plastered over his windscreen and rear window.
Clamping firm Citywatch repeatedly sent tow trucks as police kept an eye on the protest but, after 30 hours, the firm had finally had enough.
Their victim, whose wife proudly took his baby son to see his protest, offered to stump up the original £100 - and one of the enforcement team accepted.
Mr Zafaryab, of Kingsbury, said: "A crowd of about 50 clapped and cheered as they took the clamps off. Everyone was shaking my hand. The little man won against the big bad clampers."
Citywatch, based in Enfield, North London, refused to comment.

Cow's underground adventure

A Chinese farmer spent four days searching for his missing cow - only to discover she'd somehow made her way into the sewers under his village.

Locals in Fujian province, eastern China, had been mystified by the sound of mooing coming up from the ground.
But they didn't realise what had happened until the beast popped her head through an open manhole.
Animal lovers kept her busy with handfuls of grass until owner Sheng Hsueh could set up a makeshift winch to haul her back to the surface.
"She didn't seem upset by her ordeal." said local Wang Hsia, 48, "As soon as they cut her free she found a patch of grass and started grazing."

Boy, 13, hit by lightning on Friday the 13th

A 13-year-old boy was struck by lightning at exactly 13:13 on Friday the 13th.

The boy was seen by the St John Ambulance team at Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival in Suffolk, reports the Daily Telegraph.
He suffered a minor burn and was taken to James Paget Hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery.
Jason Gillingham, county ambulance officer and on scene at the show, said: "This was a very minor burn to the boy's shoulder, but he was conveyed to hospital and is recovering well."
A second teenager and a woman were also struck by lightning but did not need hospital treatment.
The three were watching a display of the Red Arrows during a downpour when the lightning struck.

All's well that ends well

A grandmother had a lucky escape in China after she fell down a 30ft well while looking for vegetables.

Yuhua Qing, 68, was gathering wild vegetables in a remote area near her home in Luoyang, Henan province, when she fell down the well.
Fortunately she was with her husband who heard her cries for help and called the emergency services, reports the China News Network.
But firefighters could not get their vehicle near the well and had to carry rescue equipment on foot - and the woman was down the well for five hours before she could be freed.
Eventually she was hauled to the surface and the woman's fears that she had broken her leg falling down the dry well proved unfounded.
Qing told rescuers that she had been looking for her husband when she stumbled into the narrow well opening which was overgrown with bushes.
"It's just a pity that they couldn't rescue my vegetables as well," she said.

Man 'marinaded live cat'

Police in the US were shocked when they pulled over a motorist - and found a live cat 'marinating' in oil and peppers in his boot.

Officers in Buffalo, New York state, heard the cat meowing when they stopped Gary Korkuc, 51, for running a stop sign.
They checked the boot and found four-year-old Navarro in a cage, his fur covered with oil, salt, crushed red peppers and chili peppers, reports the Buffalo News.
Mr Korkuc allegedly told police he was planning to cook Navarro because he was "ill-tempered". He also told officers the neutered male cat was 'pregnant'.
Navarro has been taken in by local animal rescue workers who have cleaned him up and plan to put him up for adoption. Mr Korkuc has been charged with animal cruelty.
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals spokeswoman Gina Browning said: "It's disgusting. It surprises me every day what people are capable of when it comes to violence, whether it is animals or people. I've never heard of anything like this before."
But she had nothing but praise for the police - and Navarro: "We can learn lessons in resiliency. He is purring away and getting ready for his next checkup. Thank God that police heard him. Thank God those cops took the initiative."

Angry air steward storms down slide

A flight attendant has been arrested after swearing at a passenger before storming off a plane via the emergency inflatable slide.

Steven Slater, 38, argued with a passenger who was attempting to retrieve hand luggage from an overhead locker while the Pittsburgh to New York plane was still moving on the runway.
When the passenger abused Mr Slater, the flight attendant appears to have lost his temper and dramatically resigned.

He grabbed the intercom and said: "To the passenger who called be a mother ****er, **** you. I've been in the business 28 years. I've had it. That's it."
Mr Slater then activated the emergency exit, grabbed two beers from the galley, and then slid down the inflatable slide on to the tarmac, reports the Wall Street Journal.
He boarded a train to the terminal, stripping off his tie and discarding it to the astonishment of bemused onlookers.
He then drove to his nearby home in Queens, New York, where he was later arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.
Mr Slater is a long-standing flight attendant who worked for budget airline Jet Blue.
His arrest appears to have triggered an online movement, with others who work in jobs which bring them in to contact with rude customers demanding his release.
        

Hairy girl's science ambition

A five-year-old cruelly nicknamed Monkey Girl wants to become a scientist to find out why she is covered in thick black hair.

Cian Cian lives with her grandparents who regularly shave her face and body to remove her unwanted hair.
Doctors at Tongliang People's Hospital, where Cian Cian was recently treated after suffering an epileptic fit, are mystified by her condition.
Doctor Chu Hongbo said: "There is nothing like this in her family going back three generations so it doesn't appear to be genetic."
Her grandparents say they no longer take Cian Cian into the city because people stare and ask why she's "so hairy".
"Even at kindergarten each morning, people look at her and ask me why she is so hairy. Questions like that make me feel very bad," said the grandma.
The little girl, whose parents are divorced, says classmates at kindergarten in her village near Chonqing tease her.
But she is happy at home, telling the Chongqing Evening Post: "I love my grandparents, especially my grandma, they are good to me.
"I want to be a scentist when I grow up so I can find out what's wrong with me."

Overweight air stewards grounded

Turkish Airlines has grounded 28 flight attendants for being overweight and given them six months to slim.

The employees, 13 of whom are women, are on unpaid leave in Turkey until they lose weight, the Haber Turk daily newspaper said.
All of them previously had been warned to shape up, it added.
"Weight and height are important factors at all airlines. These criteria are important both in terms of appearance and the ability to move about," Turkish Airlines reportedly said in a statement to its crew.
Izzet Levi, head of a cabin attendants' association, told Haber Turk he had been told he must lose 22lbs if he is to return to his post.
Turkish Airlines is Europe's fourth largest carrier by passenger numbers.

New chef has stomach for the job

A Chinese restaurant recruited a new chef by inviting applicants to slice a melon on a woman's stomach.

The hotel restaurant, in Hankou, Hubei province, put the knife skills of more than 15 candidates to the test.
A woman volunteer laid on a table, with her stomach covered with a thin sheet of plastic, while would-be chefs chopped up their melons.
"They had to chop the gourd into very thin pieces in a limited time," said a spokesman for the hotel.
The successful candidate, Chef Hu Gua, won the job by choping up his melon in less than a minute without hurting the woman.
Chef Hu told the Changjiang Business Daily that he had been very confident before the recruitment test.
But he added: "I still felt a bit nervous when it came to is as it was the first time I ever chopped up something on a woman's belly."
One of the judges commented: "Hu did such a god job - you could tell he had been in the trade for more than 10 years."

Aquarium boobs over buxom mermaid

Aquarium bosses have put a bikini on an underwater statue of a mermaid - because her boobs were attracting too much attention.

Staff at Sea Life Chessington said they noticed many young male visitors to their underwater tunnel were not giving the marine life their full attention.
So in a bid to save the mermaid's modesty and get visitors concentrating on the fish again, a diver was dispatched to cover the statue's breasts with a bikini.
Manager Justine Locker said: "It's a bit of a boob on our part. We hadn't noticed quite how buxom Sally was until we clocked young boys, and not so young boys, spending a lot of time ogling her in the walkthrough ocean tunnel.
"Since then, none of us can avoid what is starring us straight in the face, so it's time for a cover-up."
        

Naked rollercoaster record bid

More than 100 naked thrill-seekers stripped off to ride into the record books - on a rollercoaster.

A total of 102 enthusiasts bared all to take their seats on the Green Scream rollercoaster at Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
Organisers were aiming to beat a record set at Alton Towers in 2004 when 32 people rode a rollercoaster naked.
The latest record bid took place at Southend pleasure park, Adventure Island, to raise money for Southend Hospital's Bosom Pals Appeal.
Organiser Tracy Jones said: "We wanted to raise as much money as possible for this brilliant charity and give everybody who was brave enough, the chance to be part of the world record. Consequently, we had to run the Naked Rollercoaster three times."
Barbara Warner, of the Bosom Pals Appeal, said: "It takes of lot of nerve to take off all your clothes' in front of so many people and the world's media.
"We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who was brave enough to bare all and raise such a huge amount of cash - more than £22,000 - for our vitally important cause."

School bus crashed after driver fell out

A US school bus company is being sued after a driver allegedly fell out of a moving bus when he leant out to vomit.

The driver-less bus full of schoolchildren ended up crashing into a nearby ditch, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
A mother, who claims her child was hurt in the incident in Kankakee County, Illinois, is suing the bus company for £30,000.
Akilah Giddings, mother of Jacqual Calbert, claims the driver opened the door of the bus "in an attempt to lean over so he could barf".
The driver fell out onto the road while the bus full of schoolchildren continued moving and crashed into a ditch, her lawsuit claims.
Court papers do not specify the nature of the child's injury or say if anyone else was injured in the crash.
The lawsuit against Illinois Central School Bus, one of the biggest school bus companies in the US, was filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
Company spokeswoman Diana Hallam declined to comment on the lawsuit but said safety was "a top priority".
        

Chinese chicken thinks he's a penguin

Meet Mumble - the confused Chinese chicken who thinks he's a penguin.

Instead of scratching in the ground and roosting on a perch at night, Mumble walks around waddling from side to side.
Farmer Lu Xi got the bird as a chick, reports CEN. "He only has little wings, just like a penguin, which he sticks out when he walks. I guess that's why he never flies," he said.
Local media at Jiangsu nicknamed the chicken Mumble after the character in the film Happy Feet, about a penguin who can't sing so dances instead.
Lu added: "I had not seen the film but I like the name, although my bird can't dance - and I don't think he can swim either.
"But he should be happy - my family all like him and so we decided to keep him instead of putting him in the pot."

Penis stolen from fashion guru's grave

The penis has been snapped off the statue of an angel at a top fashion designer's family grave plot.

Visitors to the Bornstedt cemetery in Germany have been annoyed by Wolfgang Joop's stone angel with a protruding manhood since its erection in 2008.
Despite the desecration, Joop says he has no plans to fix the statue at his family's plot, though he has filed a complaint with police who are now hunting the vandal.

Joop said: "This is a desecration of a cemetery, snapping off an angel's stone penis is just not done."

CEN reports he had the mournful winged angel moved from his garden to the cemetery after the death of his father. Many visitors objected and even his mother, who died in May this year, wasn't happy about the artwork.
"My mother suggested I file the penis down a bit," Joop said just days before the theft. "But I didn't do that and for a time ladies would walk past and place a seasonal flower on the penis to cover it up."

The director of the cemetery, Jutta Erb-Rogg, said: "It's unbelievable and terribly sad. The angel was art - not pornography."

Bound woman used toes to email for help

A US woman who was tied to her bed during a midnight robbery was freed after she used her toes to email her boyfriend.

Amy Windom, 39, was held up at gunpoint in her home in Atlanta, Georgia, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The masked robber hit her over the had with his gun and then tied her to the bed while he searched the house for valuables.
After he left, she eventually managed to use her toes to email boyfriend John Hilton, from a laptop which was by her bed, who called police.
Atlanta police Captain Van Hobbs told the newspaper that when officers arrived, they found the victim still tied to her bed.
"Her laptop was on her bed with her and she was able to use her toes to type a message to her boyfriend and let him know what had happened," he said.
Mr Hilton said: "I e-mail her every morning before I go to work. I saw her on AIM, and she 'pinged' me first and her first word was, 'HELP. CALL 911'. It was all caps."
Ms Windom said that she started yelling for help and struggling to free herself as soon as the gunman left but the binds around her wrist just got tighter.
Eventually she realised her laptop was by the foot of her bed and she managed to drag it on to the bed with her feet and open it.
"The wifi popped right up and it was a wonderful moment when I had the screen and realised my internet connection was live," she said.

Mini Monet takes art world by storm

A seven-year-old 'mini Monet' has taken the art world by storm - selling his latest collection of paintings for £150,000 in just 30 minutes.

The sale of schoolboy Kieron Williamson's work attracted buyers and bids from all over the world, including New York and South Africa.
Some fans even went to the extreme of camping outside the gallery in the art prodigy's home town of Holt, Norfolk, where his work was to be exhibited.
The paintings in Kieron's latest collection, which is his third, featured mostly local Norfolk landscapes and coastal scenes.
Kieron said: "I like landscapes as they've got the big Norfolk skies in them and not too many hills or mountains."
One of the biggest sellers at the sale was a 20in by 30in oil painting called 'Sunrise at Morston', which went for £7,995.
Kieron paints up to six paintings a week and there currently around 700 people on a waiting list for an original.
The youngster first started painting two years ago after he was inspired by boats in dock during a family holiday to Cornwall.
Gallery owner Adrian Hill said: "Kieron has probably become one of the most collectable artists worldwide."
Kieron's parents plan to buy him a house with his earnings and invest the rest for him until he is 25.
        

Base jumper's brush with death

A thrill-seeking base jumper had an amazing escape after he was left hanging hundreds of feet over a Swiss mountain when his parachute failed to open.

Extreme sports fan Anton Bader, 26, smashed into the side of the peak heading for certain death as his chute dangled helplessly behind him.
But by an astonishing stroke of luck the parachute was snagged on a rocky outcrop and left terrified Bader swinging over the sheer drop and certain death hundreds of feet below.
Climbing expert Patrick Torent, who took part in the rescue on La Cascade de Fionnay mountain, near Sitten, said: "He had unbelievable luck.
"He smashed against the side of the mountain but then just remained hanging instead of plunging to the ground.
"It was impossible to reach him with a helicopter because of the angle and it took five hours to bring him down to safety," he added.
Officials first had to dam up a waterfall so they could reach the stricken jumper by rope and harness nearly 1,000ft down from the peak.
"All the time his life was literally hanging in the balance. He had been warned not to move at all even to try and hold on to the rock because it could knock the parachute free," said rescue worker Torent.

Death won't end pensioner's protest

A pensioner who has waged a protest against traffic in his village has re-written his will to go on campaigning after his death.

Tony Fuller, 77, has put a condition in his will to states his funeral cortege must crawl up and down Chideock, Dorset, once for every year of his life.
He also wants grieving family and friends to wave protest banners while walking behind the horse and cart carrying his coffin, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Fuller hopes that the result will be to bring traffic to a standstill once more, enabling him to carry on his protest even after his death.
The great-grandfather has led villagers in their fight to divert lorries away from Chideock by repeatedly pressing a button at a pelican crossing to halt traffic on the busy A35.
Mr Fuller, who is suffering from diabetes and prostate cancer, said: "The pollution from the traffic is so bad it will kill me before my illness does.
"If this protest isn't over by the time I die I have put a codicil in my will that will ensure I carry on the fight from beyond my grave.
"I want it a condition that my coffin is put on a horse and cart and taken back and forth through the centre of Chideock for every year of my life.
"I am hoping it will take a very long time and that it will hold up the traffic up. If that happens I hope people will take along their banners to my funeral.
"I have spoken to my family and the campaign group about it and they fully support me, they think it is a wonderful idea."

Student stunned to be Kanye's only friend

A Coventry student has found himself thrust into the limelight - after Kanye West made him his one and only friend on Twitter.

Steve Holmes is baffled as to why the rap superstar decided to follow his tweets on the social networking site, reports The Sun.
The rapper has acquired more than 400,000 followers himself after less than a week on Twitter but is following only one of them.
The bemused student replied to the rapper the moment he became the 'Chosen One' by tweeting: "Holy s**t bro, thx for following!"
To which West replied: "You are the chosen one dun dun dun dun."
Mr Holmes is now under the spotlight from thousands of Twitter followers, some of whom have been angered by Kanye's decision to follow Steve instead of them.
He tweeted: "I feel pressure to say amusing and witty tweets now that @kanyewest is following."
However West threw his support behind Mr Holmes, telling him: "Tweet strong young man tweet strong!!!"
But his most recent tweets suggest he is starting to feel the pressure of his unexpected attention.
"I won't be speaking to anybody else, surprisingly not everyone wants to be famous. That's all I'm saying - peace out x," he wrote.

Girl, 12, kicks burglar where it hurts

A 12-year-old girl sent a burglar packing - by kicking him right between the legs.

Georgia Bulis-Gray found the intruder in her kitchen after hearing a door slam while home alone.
She told The Sun: "He smiled at me and I thought, 'I do not want him thinking I am just a helpless little girl'.
"I kicked him very hard. He groaned and then ran out of the side gate. I ran to the front door to make sure he did not run into anyone else's house."
Georgia called police and drew a sketch of the man. She said: "It's not very good but I knew I had to draw something while his face was still fresh in my mind."
Mum Joanna, 48, only found out what happened when she returned home to Bosham, West Sussex.
She said: "Georgia was calmly making supper and said, 'Mum, something a bit odd has happened.'
"I dread to think what could have happened. But I am very proud of her."

Robber rang to complain about haul

A US man who robbed a fast food restaurant was so upset with his haul that he twice called the restaurant to complain.

The man robbed a Wendy's burger restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, at gunpoint, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Police say he later phoned the restaurant twice to complain about the amount of cash which had been in the till.
"Next time there better be more than $586," he said during one call. He made "a similar threat" in the second call, police said.
The man had walked up to the restaurant's drive through window wearing a ski mask and brandishing a gun. He told an employee to put the cash drawer on the counter.
After grabbing the drawer and running away, the robber discarded the drawer in nearby bushes. He is still at large.

Woman kills four million mozzies

A Taiwanese woman has set a world record for killing mosquitos after swatting four million in just one month.

Huang Yuyen, from Yunlin county, beat 72 rivals to the £1,900 top prize in a contest organised by insect trap-making company, Imbictus International.
Her catch weighed in at more than 1.5kg (3lbs 5oz) - more than double that of her nearest rival, reports the Daily Telegraph.
The company has sent an application to Guinness World Records asking that Miss Huang be recognised as the world's leading killer of the pest.
Mosquitoes were a major public health hazard in Taiwan as carriers of malaria until its official eradication on the island in 1965 - and are still responsible for the spread of dengue fever.

Dog is 'have-a-toe' hero

A US man has told how his dog saved his life - by biting off his infected toe after he passed out drunk.

Jerry Douthett, 48, says Jack Russell terrier Kiko must have sensed the deadly infection festering in his right foot.
Kiko bit off the musician's big toe after he passed out drunk at his home in Rockford, Michigan, reports The Sun.
His wife, Rosee, a nurse, said: "Jerry had had all these margaritas, so I just let him sleep.
"But then I heard these screams coming from the bedroom, and he was yelling, 'My toe's gone, my toe's gone!'"
Mr Douthett added: "He ate it. I mean, he must have eaten it, because we couldn't find it anywhere else in the house. I look down, there's blood all over, and my toe is gone."
When he visited a local hospital it was revealed that he was suffering from undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes.
Tests in hospital revealed a deep infection down to his bone and doctors were forced to amputate what was left of the toe.
"If it hadn't been for that dog, I could have ended up dead," said Mr Douthett.
He admitted he had been hiding his infected foot from people, including his wife.
"It smelled, and I look back now and realise every time we'd visit someone with a dog, their dog would be sniffing all over my foot," he said.

Road kill used to make sporrans

A Scottish taxidermist is using animals knocked down and killed on roads to make sporrans.

Kate Macpherson, of Beauly, Inverness-shire, has collected badgers, foxes, deer and stoats from verges.
But she has been criticised by animal welfare campaigners who say she is encouraging the use of animals for clothing.
Mrs Macpherson said she was inspired by the the badger skin sporran worn by her father's Army regiment.
"If I didn't pick up these animals they would be rotting in a ditch," she said.
"I'm creating something useful from them rather than allowing their beauty to be wasted."
The mother-of-three's friends and neighbours tip her off on the location of road kills.
Mrs Macpherson, who trained in taxidermy when she was 22, has licences to handle protected animals, but has faced complaints from animal welfare groups.
Lynda Korimboccus, head of the Scottish Animal Rights Alliance, said the use of the animals - even if they were killed on a road - was wrong.
She added: "Using a dead animal for clothing perpetuates the idea that that's what animals are for."

Farmer raises two-legged lamb

A Chinese farmer is raising a lamb which was born with only two legs.

Cui Jinxiu, of Dadongzhuang village, Laizhou, Shandong province, says the lamb was one of two born on the farm two months ago.
"The first one was very healthy and normal. However, the second one surprised me," she said.
"It looked normal but just lay on the grass and when I looked again I was amazed to see it had only two legs."
The family doubted the two-legged lamb would survive but decided to try to raise it by feeding it from baby bottles.
"The very next morning after it was born, it managed to stand up by itself," added Cui.
"In the beginning it struggled to balance but now manages perfectly well by lifting its butt in the air.
"It is very strong willed and brave. Despite only having two legs, it is living normally just like other lambs.
"Once it sees me or hears my voice, it runs to me with excitement, and rub my pants with its head."

Flying Pasties protect passengers' privacy

An LA-based company has tackled the problem of intrusive airport full-body scanners - with a product that covers your private parts.

Flying Pasties can be fixed onto the body to cover sensitive areas that would otherwise be viewable in the scan.
Made from 2mm thick rubber they can either be slipped under underwear or attached with an adhesive hook, inside or outside clothing.
And they can also be bought with humourous slogans on them such as "Only my boyfriend sees me naked".
Company spokesman Michael Luongo said: "Until now, citizens haven't had a proper way to voice their displeasure over the intrusive nature of airport scanners.
"Flying Pasties are meant to provide airplane travellers adequate protection from intrusive full body scanners while not interfering with airline security.
"The unique ease of removability will allow travellers the ability to retain their self dignity."
Flying Pasties start from about £9 each or £12.50 for a full set.
Full body scanners, which produce "naked" images of passengers, work by beaming electromagnetic waves on to passengers while they stand in a booth.
A 12-month trial at Manchester airport began in December while eleven major airports in America will begin using body scanners to screen passengers over the next two years.
        

Bad taste beer ad outrages Poles

Brewery bosses have caused fury in Poland after hanging a giant poster near the tomb of late president Lech Kaczynski urging drinkers to try a 'Cold Lech'.

The death of the president - in a plane crash tragedy on a visit to Russia - sparked mass mourning all over the country three months ago.
Now politicians have called for drinkers to boycott the beer by Krakow brewers Lech.
"This is scandalous and offensive. The brewery has crossed the Rubicon in bad taste," said MEP Ryszard Czarnecki.
"Using the president's death to sell beer is just plain wrong and they can't get away with it."
But brewery spokesman Paul Kwiatkowski: "This is the best place for beer ads in Krakow.
"If we think the ad is OK there is no reason why the billboard should not be hung right here."

Actor unveils longest tongue in US

Californian actor Nick Afanasiev has been credited with having the longest tongue in America by San Diego news station Fox 5.

Afanasiev's tongue measures 3.5 inches from the middle of his closed top lip to the tip of his tongue.
That leaves him just 0.36 inches short of the world record, held by Briton Stephen Taylor, reports Wenn.com.
Afanasiev's tongue got him a cameo on iCarly and the actor has never looked back.
The 20-year-old said: "I knew it was long, I just didn't know it was one of the longest."

Killer swan set for bachelor life

A male swan is set for a life alone after allegedly killing two wives and forcing another to vanish.

Staff at Hestercombe Gardens in Somerset, where the bird is based, have now given up finding him a mate, reports Rex.
The swan is believed to have murdered his first wife, who was found dead in mysterious circumstances.
The second give birth to three cygnets, but, perhaps fearing her mate's violent tendencies, took them and flew off into the sunset.
Given a third wife to court, the bachelor swan reportedly drove her away from the lake and she later died.
Philip White, chief executive of the gardens, said: "He's had three different mates and the relationships haven't worked out".

Oldest man in Tokyo died 30 years ago

A man reported to be 111 and the oldest man in Tokyo died 30 years ago.

Sogen Kato, born in 1899, was found mummified in his home by police, reports The Daily Telegraph.
His granddaughter told investigators that, 30 years ago, Kato declared he wanted to be a living Buddha. Police estimate he died soon after.
Kato's family are under suspicion on the basis that they received pension money of the man and his dead wife.
Tokyo metropolitan welfare official Yutaka Muroi said: "His family must have known he has been dead all these years and acted as if nothing happened. It's so eerie."

Brewery boobs over naked beer ad?

 Feminists are calling for an ad featuring topless women clutching glasses of ale to be banned.

The beers match the hair colours of a curvy blonde, redhead and brunette, reports CEN.

Now feminist leaders are demanding that advertising authorities should ban the ads due to sexism.

One unnamed campaigner said: "There is no genuine connection between beer and naked women.

"The women have just been put there to sexualise beer. The advert is sexist against women."

But Caroline Kroepfl, spokeswoman for the Hirter brewery in Austria, replied: "The poster shows three self-confident beer drinkers."

Football fans bugged by bright new kit

 Supporters wearing Norwich City's new bright yellow shirts are being plagued by insects.

The Canaries have traditionally sported yellow, but this season has seen the introduction of a new brighter, 'more Brazilian' colour, and the bugs have been out in force during pre-season friendlies.
The Telegraph reports that it's acting as a magnet for the insects, one fan posting on a City message board: "Got absolutely engulfed in them today, annoying lot."

Another added: "When you wear your City shirt it attracts about a million tiny little black bugs."
Ian Bedford, head of entomology at the John Innes Centre, told the paper: "Obviously in East Anglia a lot of oilseed rape is grown, and these insects lay their eggs in flower buds of rapeseed flowers before they hatch into beetles and fly off to feed on pollen.
"These insects are highly attracted to yellow, because it's a sign to them of food."

Trapped kitten has cops pulling car apart

 A kitten trapped in a police car's engine was eventually freed by six kind-hearted cops.

It could have been the cat-alytic converter, or maybe the engine was purring a little more than normal, but when a member of the public told the police he'd seen the kitten disappear under the bonnet, they sprang into action.
The Austrian officers spent more than an hour searching the engine bay in Vienna, before finally finding the seven-week-old kitten hiding under the air filter.
"We couldn't just drive off." one explained. "We could hear the poor thing meowing but couldn't persuade him to come out so we had to start taking the car apart until we could reach him."
CEN reports police have named the kitten Jimmy, and he is being kept at an animal rescue centre until the owner can be traced.

Man hopes to be crowned 'World's smallest'

 

A 40-year-old from a village in south west China is hoping to claim the title of world's shortest man.

At just 76cm (just under two foot, six inches) Huang Kaiquan is only 1.4cm higher than previous record holder He Pingping, who died in March aged 21.

Huang, who smokes heavily and is a former magician, is the height and weight of an average three year old.

In Sanjiang village, Huang is known to locals as 'Short Brother'. He still lives with his mother Cheng.

She said: "He didn't grow at all one month after birth. We thought it's just late development and didn't pay enough attention.

"When Huang was three, he still wore the clothes of a one-year-old. It was then we noticed his unusualness."

When is a turnip not a turnip?

Brussels bureaucrats have ruled that a swede can be called a turnip when it's in a Cornish pasty.

The European Commission is drawing up guidelines on the permitted ingredients of the traditional West Country lunch, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Officials have decreed that only minced or diced beef, sliced potato, onion and swede are allowed to fill the pastry.

However the Cornish are unique in referring to swede as turnip, even though they are completely different root vegetables.

Because of this linguistic quirk, the regulations have been amended to allow either term to be used on the label although only swedes are allowed in the pasty.

This will mean that genuine Cornish pasties will be allowed to go on sale advertised as containing turnip, but will break the rules if they actually do contain it.

The draft regulations, giving Protected Geographical Indication status to the Cornish pasty which are due to come into force in January, specify it must be D-shaped and crimped on one side, "never on top".

The EC regulation notes: "Traditionally, in Cornwall 'swede' is referred to as 'turnip' so the two terms are interchangeable, but the actual ingredient is 'swede'."

The Cornish Pasty Association applied for protected status for the delicacy earlier this year, in order to prevent rivals passing their inferior products as the genuine article.

William Dartmouth, UKIP MEP for the South West, complained: "The case of the phantom turnip is only the latest in a long line of food-related chaos inflicted on us by Europe."

Man has many Mini-Mes

An architect has 'cloned' himself dozens of times for a series of elaborate photo montages.

Ari Mahardika, 31, uses a self-timer to snap himself in various poses against a white background.

He shrinks the self-portraits into mini-me-like characters, then cleverly positions them to look like a real-life scene.

Mr Mahardika spends up to a week thinking of each design, several hours taking the photos and a few days editing them.

He said: "I want to tell a story and play with the sense of scale in my artwork.

"My montages are like a mixture of thoughts that I express in the form of fractions of me.

"In some of my photos you can see me having a discussion with my mini-mes. This shows how we sometimes have conversations with ourselves in our head.

"In others you can see me playing games and having fun with myself. This reflects the playful thoughts that I use to cheer myself up when I'm bored or tired."

Mr Mahardika, from Indonesia, has taught himself photography over the past ten years.

He added: "I get that satisfaction when everything works out great. The trick is how to make the photo look as believable and as real as possible."

Policeman trapped - by angry bees

A police officer was trapped in his patrol car for three hours - by 50,000 angry honeybees.

Sheriff's Deputy Brandon Jenkins, 31, had been called out after a lorry broke down near Raleigh, North Carolina.

The lorry was pulling a trailer loaded with 60 boxes of bees and the insects had escaped, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Deputy Jenkins arrived at day break just as the bees were waking up and they swarmed him, forcing him to retreat to his car and radio for back up.

"It was mind boggling how many bees were out there. At some point, it was hard to see out of the windows," he said.

The officer admitted using deadly force on some of the insects who got in.

"It was more or less self-defence. There were a couple of bees in my personal space, my comfort zone, and I just wanted to get them out."

Police called in two beekeepers who used smoke and sugar water spray to calm the insects and then collected them. They said the bees had been attracted by the light colour of the patrol car.

Beekeeper Charles Heatherly said: "The bees were hot and bothered. They got a little testy."

Jennifer Keller, a honeybee technician at North Carolina State University, said: "They were just very confused. They don't have a queen to guard and they were kind of lost."

Groom says it with 99,999 red roses

A Chinese groom certainly rose to the occasion when he decided to give his bride a big day she'd never forget.

Xiao Wang blew a year's salary on buying 99,999 red roses for bride Xiao Liu at their wedding in Chongqing, central China, where the number 999 is considered to be a good luck omen.

The couple - both 24 - needed 30 cars to take the flowers to the service. They advertised on the internet for car owners and for helpers to stick the flowers on the vehicles. The flowers themselves were flown in from the other side of the country.

"I remembered that Liu loved these special roses and the idea just grew and grew. It was worth it all just to see the look on her face when she saw the cars," said groom Wang.

He also donated 20% of the cost of the roses to charity to bring still more luck to their marriage.

Liu who met Wang while they were at University together added: "I mentioned a year ago I would like a romantic wedding - I can't believe he remembered, but it was amazing."

Bookie takes bets on teen's virginity auction

A bookmaker is taking bets on how much a Hungarian teenager will sell her virginity for in a controversial TV auction.

The 18-year old blonde, known only as Miss Spring, first launched her auction on eBay in an attempt to eradicate her family's debt.

But when the online auction site pulled the plug a top Hungarian television station stepped in and agreed to broadcast the auction live on 25 August.

Paddy Power makes a winning bid of 300,000 euros or more their 2/1 favourite, followed by a bid between 275,000 and 300,000 euros at odds of 5/2.

The bookie is also offering odds on the nationality of the auction winner with a British man installed as their 5/4 favourite followed by an Irishman at 3/1 and a German at 6/1.

Miss Spring, who lives with her mother and claims she has never had a boyfriend, says she came up with the idea to prevent the family being evicted from their home in northern Hungary.

She said: "I don't think there is anything wrong with it. It's just for one night.

"And I think it's actually quite romantic because the man who pays me this money will be helping to save my family from being homeless. He will be our saviour."

A spokesman for Paddy Power said: "This is certainly an auction with a difference and I'm sure that sympathetic punters from around Europe will only be too hungry to save Miss Spring from her financial woe."

New benches are a pain in the ****

Park officials in China have found a way to stop people from hogging their benches for too long - by fitting steel spikes on a coin-operated timer.

If visitors at the Yantai Park in Shangdong province, eastern China, linger too long without feeding the meter, dozens of sharp spikes shoot through the seat.

The spikes are too short to cause any serious harm - but long enough to prevent people from sitting on them comfortably.

Park bosses got the idea from an art installation in Germany where sculptor Fabian Brunsing created a similar bench as a protest against the commercialisation of modern life.

"He thought he was exaggerating. He didn't foresee that a very practical country like China might actually use them for real," said one critic.

Parks in China suffer from chronic overcrowding at weekends when millions of people try to escape the country's teeming cities.

"We have to make sure the facilities are shared out evenly and this seems like a fair way to stop people grabbing a bench at dawn and staying there all day," said one park official.

Strippers picket church

 Ohio strippers are protesting outside a church whose members are trying to put their club out of business.

Bikini-clad protesters sit in deckchairs outside New Beginnings Ministries church, in Warsaw, during Sunday services.

They launched the picket after congregation members photographed strip club customers' number plates and asked if their wives knew where they were.

The Fox Hole club, which lies about nine miles from the church, has offered a truce, reports the BBC.

But the pastor has refused, saying "as a Christian community, we cannot share territory with the devil".

"Light and darkness cannot exist together so the Fox Hole has got to go," said Pastor Bill Dunfee.

Some strippers hold signs bearing Christian messages such as "Jesus loves the children of the world".

"Everybody has sinned, and that doesn't mean I'm not going to get into heaven," said Fox Hole stripper Laura Meske, 42.

"I believe in Jesus. I don't believe what they preach. They preach hate."

The confrontations between the two camps have so far been largely friendly, with Mr Dunfee and congregants greeting and chatting to the strippers outside the church.

Tourists flock to tickle cats

 A rundown former coal mining town in Taiwan is carving out a new future as a tourist resort - because of its huge stray cat population.

Cat lovers are reportedly flocking to Houtong to photograph the cats, tickle them with feather-tipped sticks and buy cat-related souvenirs.

The number of stray cats in the town is said to outweigh the human population by a ratio of two-to-one, reports Metro.

Houtong had undergone a seemingly irreversible economic decline as coal became less important to Taiwan's economy.

But the tiny, 200-strong community is reinventing itself as a cat lover's paradise.

"It was more fun than I imagined," said one visitor from Taipei. "The cats were clean and totally unafraid of people. I'll definitely return."

A major reason for the town's unexpectedly high number of cats is 58-year-old retiree Chan Bi-yun, who inherited a number of cats which rapidly started producing more cats.

"I started raising five cats that belonged to a neighbour who passed away nine years ago and they gave birth to more and more kitties," she said.

Chan, who now also owns a cat-souvenir stall, said most of her cats wander freely. Volunteers provide free veterinary care and cat food.

Chinese bear poses for pictures with tourists

 A bear has become a minor celebrity in a Chinese zoo by happily posing for pictures with tourists.

Tian Tian was forced to retire from his job in a circus - where he performed on the parallel bars and a bike - because he was too obese.

He is now paraded around Shendiao Mountain Zoo in Shandong, northern China, but because of his time interacting with humans at the circus, he relates to people better than other bears.

"I have to take her and wander around during the day time outside the bear pen," said Tian Tian's feeder Wang Qunfa.

When she first arrived at the zoo and tourists began to request pictures, officials decided to turn her into a full-time 'picture bear'.

She soon began to adopt special poses for photographs by putting on a casual look and leaning on a fence. In return, she stares at tourists' food until they give it to her. She has become particularly fond of beer.

Fat-fingered sumo wrestlers get iPads

 Japanese sumo wrestlers have been given iPads because their fingers are too fat to use mobile phones.

The Japan Sumo Association is distributing about 60 iPads among training stables and top officials to help improve communication.

"It seems rather easy to use," said association chief Hanaregoma. "Sending emails was very easy."

The 62-year-old former wrestler admitted that while he can read incoming text messages on his mobile phone, he does not know how to write replies and does not usually use a computer.

The iPad was chosen because the sumo association believed the device was big enough to cater for wrestler's fat fingers, unlike the smaller keys on mobile phones, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Sumo officials decided to go digital and buy iPads as the ancient sport attempts to mend its ways after scandals over wrestlers' ties with gangsters and illegal gambling, match-fixing and brutal hazing of apprentices.

The sport's authorities faced loud public criticism for their clumsy efforts to investigate the scandals, in part due to insufficient sharing of information among sumo leaders.

"If we place this (iPad) in all the stables, we should be able to contact them anytime," the association's spokesman Nishonoseki has said.

Soon we can all be Spiderman!

 Scientists say people could soon be able to stick to buildings like Spiderman by wearing special gloves and shoes.

Researchers at Stanford University, California, have created a new textile inspired by the feet of gecko lizards.

It has been tested successfully on a small 'robotic' gecko, called Stickybot, which can walk up panes of glass, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Engineers now want to scale up the design for humans as part of a project that has been codenamed Z-Man.

Geckos' ability to defy gravity is due to microscopic hairs on their toes, increasing the surface area, which creates a one-way adhesive.

A sticky bond is created with each step but that bond can be broken by movement in the other direction.

Professor Mark Cutkosky, the lead designer, said the new rubber-like material is covered with thousands of tiny polymer fibres.

"Unless you use suction cups, which are kind of slow and inefficient, the other solution out there is to use dry adhesion, which is the technique the gecko uses," he said.

"Other adhesives are like walking around with chewing gum on your feet: You have to press it into the surface and then you have to work to pull it off.

"But with directional adhesion, it's almost like you can sort of hook and unhook yourself from the surface."