KEY POINTS:
Those who argue that children are being wrapped in cottonwool these days might have a point if a newsletter from Bayfield Preschool in Herne Bay is anything to go by. Sent out just before Halloween, the letter reminds parents that the next day is dress-up day, but bans Batman, Spiderman or "any similar costumes". If that was not enough, it states that "no demonic or ghoulish costumes should be worn as some of the children may get quite frightened". Well, isn't that the point?
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British pre-schoolers are being encouraged to keep fit with a television exercise regime called Toddleraerobics. The two-minute programme will be shown daily on children's channel Nick Jr. It follows a report by government scientists who found that by 2050, one in four British children would be obese.
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Constable Bob Molloy proved to be an effective crime fighter until he was stolen. Thefts dropped from an average of 36 a month to just one after a cardboard cutout replica of PC Bob was put up in a shop in Belper, Derbyshire. And then one day he was gone. The suspected thief, a man aged between 35 and 40, was captured on CCTV as he strolled out of Long Eaton's Co-op supermarket with the cut-out tucked under his arm.
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A Welsh woman who chained herself to the steering wheel of her car after it was clamped has returned home following a sleepless night. Lisa Martin, 33, spent the night in the car after discovering a wheel clamp had been fitted during a shopping trip to Pontypool. She was getting ready to bed down for a second night when an anonymous donor came forward to pay the £150 ($410) fine. She had been planning to stay in the car until she received an apology from the clamping firm, but eventually returned home about 1am after friends persuaded her to continue her protest from home. "The clamping company had the cheek to take the clamp off and tell me a local businessman had paid the fine because he was disgusted with the way I was representing Pontypool," said Martin, of Sebastopol, South Wales. "I'm not happy about it. I would like this gentleman to come forward and tell me to my face that he's disgusted with me."
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A Czech truck driver was stranded for three nights in southwest England after his satellite navigation system directed him down a narrow country lane. Yuri Odenhai, 45, was on his way to pick up cargo from Devon when his 40-tonne truck became stuck fast on a sharp bend near the village of Ivybridge. The truckie's company refused to pay for an expensive recovery operation, meaning the 15m vehicle remained wedged in place. Odenhai had tried to ask for directions before following the sat-nav down the lane but his English was not up to scratch and he could not make himself understood. The truck was eventually towed out by a tractor after a tree surgeon cut away surrounding vegetation.
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A man in Sweden who was angry with his daughter's husband has been charged with libel for telling the FBI the son-in-law had links to al Qaeda. The man said he did not think the US authorities were stupid enough to believe him. The 40-year-old son-in-law and his wife were in the process of divorcing when the husband had to travel to the US for business. The wife asked him to stay home to help her with the children but he refused. So his father-in-law emailed the FBI saying the son-in-law had links to al Qaeda in Sweden and was travelling to the US to meet his contacts. The son-in-law was arrested on landing in Florida, interrogated and placed in a cell for 11 hours before being put on a flight back to Europe. (Source: AFP)
