A father loaded a van with snow and drove it 110 miles so his son could build a snowman.

Two-year-old Elliot O'Sullivan was distraught when no snow settled near his home.

So dad Shaun O'Sullivan, who was working in snow-covered Kent, filled his Mercedes Sprinter van with snow and drove it home to Totton, Hants, for a surprise.

Shaun, a 24-year-old window fitter, drove the whole way with the heater off to stop it melting.

He told The Sun: "It was worth the effort to see the look on Elliot's face - though it was freezing driving back."

Elliot's mum Tracey, 27, said: "Elliot and I pulled up outside our house and could see Shaun getting something out of the van.

"I could hardly believe my eyes when I realised what he was up to. Elliot's face was a picture."

Elderly women at a Bulgarian old folks' home fear nurses will try to steal their lovers, according to a newspaper.

Staff at the Vazrazhdane centre for the elderly in Ruse say some elderly women are breaking house rules by having sex with men at the centre.

But the Sega daily newspaper reports the women are refusing to identify the men because they believe the nurses will then try to have sex with the men themselves.

One elderly woman told the paper: "We're lucky because we cannot get pregnant and can make love as much as we want."

Story filed: 12:01 Tuesday 26th November 2002

A five year-old Romanian boy has escaped unhurt after he 'tried to fly' from a 60 feet balcony.

The boy, who had been left alone by his father for half an hour, thought he could fly down and wait for his mother, who was due home from work.

Andrei Bogdan Rotaru, from Vaslui, used a stool to get on the balcony frame then spread his arms and jumped.

His fall was interrupted by clothes lines attached to the balconies below and he was able to get up again unaided.

Doctors said the boy didn't appear to have any injuries but they were keeping him under medical observation for at least five days.

The little boy said he was sure people could fly because he had seen them in cartoons.

He told the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper: "My mom said she won't let me watch the cartoons any more because I learn bad things from them. But I will do it every day after I come from the kindergarten."

Story filed: 17:39 Friday 8th November 2002

Man Learns To Breastfeed

A Sri Lankan widower has attracted the attention of doctors for his ability to breastfeed his young daughter.

Mr B Wijeratne, from Walapanee, near Colombo, took to breastfeeding her soon after his wife died three months ago while giving birth to their second child.

His elder daughter, 18-month-old Nisansala Madhushani, was so used to her mother's milk that she would not take formula milk.

Mr Wijeratne told Sinhalese language newspaper Lankadeepa: "My child would reject the powdered milk I tried feeding through a bottle.

"Unable to see her cry I offered my breast. That's when I discovered that I could breastfeed her."

The 38-year-old's ability to produce milk was noticed by doctors at the government hospital in the town of Kurunegala.

A monument to a faithful dog is being erected near the road in Russia where it waited for its master for eight years.

Many people in the Russian Samara region know the story of the Alsatian dog whose master died in a car accident.

People called the dog Faithful because it waited for the return of its owner year after year.

Many times locals tried to make Faithful their own dog but it always returned to the place of the accident.

The dog died after 8 years of waiting and locals have decided to erect a monument to immortalise the animal.

The first monument to a dog in Russia will be made of bronze.

Oleg Klyuev, a sculptor from Ulyanovsk, says the monument will be set up near the road so that drivers could see the dog following them with its eyes.

Experts says Stone Age man invented beer before he made bread.

Archaeologists have found that man first discovered alcohol in 9000 BC, more than 5,000 years earlier than previously thought.

According to The Sun they reckon pottery was invented because man needed a mug to hold his beer.

Until now researchers have assumed the first human settlements, which appeared in the Middle East, were built around farming and growing corn for food.

But archaeologist Merryn Dinely, of Manchester University, told the paper that corn was turned into malt, the main ingredient for making beer.

Dr Dinely found that almost all ancient villages had homes with smooth, carefully-made floors which appear to have been used for malting.

There was also evidence that ovens and grinding stones found at ancient sites formed the foundations of a brewery. Heat-proof baskets lined with bitumen were used for fermenting and storing beer.

Dr Dinely told a conference at Leicester University: "The most likely scenario seems to be that humans discovered how to turn grain into malt, which is sweet and nutritious.

"Then by accident they found out that when malt is mixed with water it turns into alcohol."

Dr Dinely said drawings showed women did the brewing while men collected the raw materials.

Story filed: 10:28 Saturday 14th September 2002

A New Zealander has been charged with altering a woman's name to Fat Ass on an electoral roll.

Police said the 23-year-old woman will be prosecuted under the 1993 Electoral Act and will appear in New Plymouth District Court in about two weeks.

Victim, Kylene Soar, told The Daily News she received a letter from the Electoral Enrolment Centre (EEC).

The computer-generated letter registered her first names as Kylene Fat Ass and asked her to check her name and details, sign it as correct and return it.

Ms Soar, who says her weight is a touchy issue, said she was disgusted and angry and wanted answers as to how it could happen.

EEC manager Murray Wicks said at the time someone had allegedly accessed the electoral website and changed the details.

However he said a person's details could not be changed on the electoral roll itself until the forms were signed by that person as correct.

Story filed: 12:24 Saturday 24th August 2002

Dutch police say they are powerless to act against a truck driver who poses as a hairdresser to gain sexual thrills.

They say the 43-year-old gets a kick from running his hands through the hair of attractive women.

But officers say he doesn't commit a crime because he doesn't sexually assault the women or commit any lewd act himself while working on their hair.

Police say all they can do is warn women not to agree to a haircut by Harry Sleuven.

They say women are also often left disappointed by his work, as Sleuven has no training or flair in styling hair.

Sleuven tells women he is an assistant of a famous hairdresser in the region and asks if they would like an appointment.

He first became notorious in Zaanstad, but was forced to leave the area in 1995. Now police in Emmen have confirmed he is operating in their area, reports Noordhollands Dagblad newspaper.

Police spokesman Eric Zinsmeyer said of Sleuven, who was once beaten up by an angry husband: "The women accept Sleuven's offer to cut their hair and invite him in their house. The man himself doesn't do anything sexual."

Victims say Sleuven is ugly and shabby looking, and never uses a comb on his own hair. One woman said: "He just moved with his hands through my hair. Looking back to it, I don't know why I invited him into my house."

Story filed: 12:16 Sunday 7th July 2002

A Northumberland couple have held their wedding reception at McDonald's.

Ray and Maria Higgingson wanted to celebrate their big day in the place they first met.

The newlyweds arrived in a stretch limousine following a civil ceremony at Morpeth Register Office.

Staff at the restaurant in Cramlington decorated a section of seating with balloons and confetti.

The Evening Chronicle reports wedding guests were served super size Big Mac and McChicken sandwich meals with McFlurrys.

The couple first met in a McDonald's in Stockton two years ago. They had earmarked a grander reception venue, but scaled down the plans after Maria's mum was diagnosed with lung cancer.

They had kept their wedding and the reception venue a surprise from their three children.

Maria, 39, said: "They had no idea when we pulled into McDonald's that we would be eating here. I knew they would prefer burger and fries to a posh restaurant."

Raymond, 37, said: "I suggested McDonald's as a joke. But the more we thought about it the more we were convinced it would be right."

Restaurant manager Lyndsey Rudd said staff thought the couple were joking when they asked if they could reserve seating for a wedding reception.

An Illinois man has been jailed for stealing ponytails while posing as a charity worker.

The ponytails were destined to be turned into wigs for sick children.

Melvin Hanks admitted he'd posed as a courier for the Locks of Love charity and conned a Belleville beauty salon out of 72 ponytails.

Beauty salon owner Gerry Dahm said the theft was beyond her comprehension.

Hanks, who's 54 and from Springfield, has been jailed for 30 days and given 18 months probation. He was also was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and complete any recommended treatment.

Woman's Finger Amputated After Getting Nails Done

Doctors Amputate Part Of Finger After Infection Sets In

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas City woman won a settlement against a nail salon after she was forced to amputate her index finger after getting her nails done, Kansas City TV station KMBC reported.

Reba Burgess said that she had been getting her nails done at Fancy Nails for a year with no problems until Mother's Day 1998. Burgess said that she went in for a polish when the nail technician started taking off her acrylic nails.

"Then they filed again. Then they drilled. Then they filed, drilled, picked, drill, filed and soaked, and they still would not come off," Burgess said.

Burgess said that this process went on for almost four hours.

"My hands were bleeding and I kept trying to talk to them to see what was taking so long and they would never talk to me. (They) kept telling me it would take a little longer ... take a little longer," Burgess recalled.

"I went to the hospital Sunday and they flipped my nail off and told me I had to stay and have surgery," Burgess said.

Moritz reported that an infection had moved into Burgess' bone. Doctors amputated part of her index finger.

"I was shocked because I never thought going and getting your nails done, to have them polished, would end up with a finger gone," Burgess said.

The nail salon settled the lawsuit with Burgess.

"I cry a lot. I hide my hand a lot. I'll never wear fingernail polish again -- I'll never wear nails again," Burgess said.

The nail salon would not comment.

Health experts recommend to people who get their nails done professionally to make sure that the equipment is clean and the chemicals used are safe. Inspection records with the cosmetology board are not public.

Copyright 2002 by MyCFnow.com.

ENID, Okla. A woman accused of trying to trade her baby girl for a Chihuahua puppy has been charged with trafficking in children.

Kathryn A. Smith, 21, surrendered on an outstanding warrant Friday and was released after an initial court appearance.

Prosecutors said Smith offered to give her mother's neighbor custody of her 7-month-old daughter if the woman gave her a Chihuahua she was selling for $200.

Smith later upped the price to $2,000, authorities said. The neighbor told police she agreed because she believed Smith was neglecting the child and she wanted to help the girl, authorities said. The deal was never completed.

Smith, who now lives in Springdale, Ark., briefly stayed with the neighbor last April after she was kicked out of her mother's home.

Smith signed papers allowing the woman to seek medical treatment for the baby if necessary and promised to give her legal custody, an affidavit said. Smith's mother later told the neighbor Smith tried to sell the child in Arkansas, authorities said.

The girl remains in Smith's custody.

Naked Preacher Shot, Police Say

Miami police say that a woman answered her door on North River Drive and let a man come in to her house. Once inside, he ranted and raved about God then took off all his clothes, police say.

When he ran across the street and into another duplex, the resident there shot him.

The naked man is expected to survive and the man who shot him is not going to be charged, according to police.

Police are investigating claims a six-year-old boy was locked inside a tumble drier because his babysitter said his Game Boy was too loud.

The boy from Tipp City, Ohio, also said he'd been tied to a chair, had his mouth gagged and a sheet put over his head.

The boy's mother told police her best friend's 21-year-old son was watching the child, reports the Dayton Daily News.

Police Captain Ron Van Nuys said: "It's bizarre. We have to determine the veracity of the child's statement."

Van Nuys says the boy was released from the chair by the babysitter's sister, but when he tried to play the video game again, he was locked in the drier.

The boy told police he eventually got the door open and crawled out. He wasn't injured and no arrests have yet been made.

A Taiwanese teacher has been demoted for trying to make her pupils eat tiny pieces of aluminum foil as a punishment.

The teacher, identified only by her surname Liu, was angry after a student failed to follow her orders and crush empty milk containers before throwing them away.

Ms Liu cut it into 35 pieces and ordered each student to eat one piece, said Wu Lin-hui, an official in the city's Education Department.

The students, aged 11 and 12, were stunned and most just put the foil in their mouths without swallowing them, the China Times Express newspaper reports.

But Feng Ching-huang, principal at the Nan Hu Elementary school in Taipei, says four or five students swallowed the foil.

Mr Lin-hui says the teacher wasn't dismissed because she showed remorse over her conduct. None of the students suffered injuries.

Four Dutchmen are accused of coercing 38 children into helping them burgle a school by telling them they were going to a party.

The four men broke into the school at night with the children who were aged between eight and 16-years-old.

The children have all been questioned by police and told officers they thought they were going to a "secret party."

Once they were inside the Stephanus Primary school in Rotterdam, the adults told them to steal computers and toys.

Some of the children carried off computers, others just watched or played in the schoolyard.

A police spokesman told Algemeen Dagblad: "A lot of the children were seen that night by the neighbours. Most of them will have to attend a special course to prevent them from doing criminal acts again."

Only the four adults, who were aged between 18 and 21, were arrested.

Story filed: 11:13 Friday 22nd November 2002

A politician wants police to ban sweets in the shape of penises from Blackpool's seafront.

Councillor Mary Smith says Blackpool should copy Southport and launch a crackdown on obscene confectionery sold in shops.

Sweet shop bosses in Southport were furious after police ordered them to remove the rude sweets from public view.

The manager of the Southport Rock Shop, who did not wish to be named, told the Blackpool Evening Gazette: "Two male officers came in here and ordered me to take all the rock willies out of the window.

"They said the rock boobs could stay because they hadn't received any complaints about them."

"I am absolutely fuming. I can't believe, with all the youth crime and shoplifting that goes on here, the police are choosing to spend their time worrying about rock willies."

Granny Heart Attack Sex Shame

A 74-year-old Romanian woman has died from a heart attack during sex with her 26-year-old lover while her husband was sleeping in the other room.

The woman, from Scobinti, Lasi county, was found naked in her room and her lover, a neighbour, told police she died in his arms.

He said he was covering her mouth with his hand in order to stop her from screaming with pleasure.

The woman's husband said he never had any suspicions his neighbour was having an affair with his wife, reports the National newspaper.

Police are investigating the death.

A woman is accused of circumcising her sleeping ex-boyfriend with a pair of scissors in revenge for being dumped.

Chan Lai-ching, 46, cut Lai Kwok-fai's foreskin away with the scissors after he told her in bed their seven-year relationship was over, the South China Morning Post reported.

It's believed Mr Lai woke screaming after the attack and was rushed to hospital where he needed 11 stitches.

The paper reports it took him two weeks to recover.

Chan is on trial before Hong Kong's District Court where she denies one charge of wounding with intent.

An Austrian woman tried to smuggle herself over the border into Hungary to get a cheap hair-do.

Angelika Mayer had booked a hair appointment in the Hungarian town of Sopron but left her Vienna home without her passport.

When she realised, it was too late to go back and still make the appointment so she decided to hide in the top box of her friend's car.

Border guards found the 43-year-old, gave her an on-the-spot fine and returned her to the Austrian side of the border.

Imre Feher, spokeswoman for the Hungarian Border Guards, said: "We often find people hiding in the boots of the cars but we were just as shocked as the woman to discover her hiding in the top box."

A Mississippi man has been jailed for 18 months for having sex with a horse while high on ecstasy.

Carl Patrick Brown was caught on video surveillance cameras set up by a farmer who suspected trespassers kept invading his barn.

The farmer previously found buckets and stools out of place and once found the chestnut mare tied to a post.

The 30-year-old from Gulfport admitted having sexual intercourse with a horse at Harrison County Court.

He must register as a sex offender on release from prison because the offence is considered a sex crime in Mississippi.

The Sun Herald reports Circuit Judge Jerry O Terry ordered Brown to avoid any future contact with the horse, which is stabled in Pass Christian.

Prosecutors say sex crimes involving animals are uncommon in the region. Assistant District Attorney John Gargiulo added: "This is truly a crime against nature."

Story filed: 13:23 Friday 16th August 2002

LONDON (Reuters) - British police said Monday they were hunting for a thug who bit off a man's eyebrow and possibly ate it after a drunken fight near a kebab van.

The 34-year-old victim and a friend were set upon as they headed toward the takeaway van in the center of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, in southwest England, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The stocky attacker, aged in his 30s, launched a violent assault after the victim made an inoffensive comment to two young women, police said.

"He stuck his teeth into the eyebrow and bit it off. It's a possibility that he ate it as shortly afterwards a search was conducted and there was no sign of the eyebrow," Detective Constable Neil Le-Maire of Wiltshire police told Reuters.

He said the attack was unprovoked and it appeared that the assailants were drunk and merely hungry for a fight.

"I have never come across an assault like that before," Le-Maire said.

While the man was having his eyebrow chewed off, his friend was knocked to the ground and kicked by two other men.

Le-Maire said the attack had left the victim badly disfigured as without the missing eyebrow there was not a lot that doctors could do to rectify the damage.

New Jersey police have charged three teenagers with putting a preserved pig's heart in their teacher's coffee cup.

They say two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old put the heart in the supply teacher's cup during an English lesson.

Detectives in Bergenfield say the teacher drank from the cup but didn't swallow any of the heart.

They say the boys got the heart from a biology lab. The woman fell ill after ingesting formaldehyde.

She hasn't suffered any long-term health problems. The boys have been charged with assault.

School officials learned of the prank after concerned pupils told teachers about the incident.

After the incident, the boys allegedly removed the heart and threw it out of a window, but it was later retrieved by police.

The teacher says she doesn't know why they picked on her. The three boys have been suspended. The boys will appear in court later this year.

A German man is being charged with using his underpants as a weapon to attack a policeman.

He was chased and caught by police officers after he tried to run away after allegedly travelling on a train without a ticket.

After they took him to the police station at Hanau, he suddenly ripped off his trousers and underwear.

He is accused of repeatedly hitting one officer in the face with his underpants.

He is being charged with causing bodily harm and obstructing the police. Police say they also found a small amount of marijuana in his pockets.

The man, who has not been named by police, had been hiding on a train toilet to avoid ticket controllers, the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper reports.

When the train stopped at Hanau station, the 23-year-old ran off but was caught by the two policemen.

Police say he also threatened to hit them with a beer bottle, but the officers managed to take it from him.

Story filed: 16:59 Monday 10th June 2002

An eight-year-old who drove himself a mile-and-a-half to school in California got a ticket for driving without a licence.

The second-grader at Fremont Elementary in Antioch even steered the Hyundai through a construction site.

He says he's "still trying to figure out" how he managed the feat.

Antioch police who gave him the ticket can't explain how the boy learned to drive.

The boy says he urgently needed to get to school. His mother, who hasn't commented, didn't get a ticket.

His teacher Jeannie Trammel says she can't understand how he could see out the window and drive at the same time.

Drivers in California can get a learner's licence at the age of 15.

Story filed: 17:51 Friday 17th May 2002

Reverand to ban all Superman comic books and movies - because he believes the Man of Steel is Gay!

"We owe it to our children not to expose them to this kind of
flamboyant character, flitting around in the air like Tinkerbell,"
declares the Reverend Clay Blanblood.
"Real men do NOT prance around in tights. Who knows how many
homosexuals got their start from trying to imitate Superman?"
The Topeka-based minister says he reached his bizarre conclusion after
poring over hundreds of Superman comics, movies and TV shows dating
back to the 1930s.
He cites the following as "evidence" that the beloved superhero is
light in his loafers:
He dresses in leotards that show off his muscles "and just about
everything else." He can never marry Lois Lane, they can only be
buddies. He leads a secret double life, "like a closet homosexual,"
according to the preacher. He wears a cape. "Maybe y'all know some
straight guys who waltz around in red capes. I sure don't," Rev.
Blanblood declares.
He colors his hair with blue highlights. As Clark Kent, he wears
glasses even though he doesn't need them. "It's like he's advertising
that he's some kind of sissy," the clergyman argues. He is "overly
chummy" with cute young cub reporter Jimmy Olsen. He often poses with
his hands on his hips, "the traditional gay posture."
He has X-ray vision, yet never uses the power to look through women's
clothing, "the way any normal, red-blooded American man would,"
according to the preacher. He's often seen flying through the air
carrying a man he's just rescued, something Rev. Blanblood insists "no
heterosexual male would be caught dead doing."
This isn't Rev. Blanblood's first foray into popular culture. In the
past he's argued the case that Batman and Robin, the Scarlet
Pimpernel, Robin Hood, G.I. Joe, and even macho characters Captain
Kirk and Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame are also gay.
A leading comic book expert calls the preacher's crusade against
Superman "idiotic."
- by George Sanford