Five years after their disappearance, jewels thought stolen from the wife of the US ambassador to the Netherlands in 2006 have been found in the Hague.

Dawn Arnall realised her 7m euro (£5.9m; $9.3m) gems were missing months after staying in a Dutch hotel.

Unknown to her, the jewellery had been found and was held for safekeeping by the hotel, AFP reports, before being given to an employee as unclaimed.

The employee, assuming the items were costume jewellery, forgot about them.

Only after she recently found them in a drawer and took them to a jeweller for valuation did their true worth emerge.

They were then handed in to police and have since been returned to the US.

A new government policy in northern Indonesia will enable wives of civil servants to have direct access to their husbands' salaries, officials say.

The Gorontalo provincial government in Sulawesi will be transferring the pay of married civil servants to their wives' bank accounts from March.

The move is aimed at curbing extra-marital affairs, spokesman Rudi Iriawan told the BBC.

Many wives had complained about a lack of transparency on financial matters.

According to Rudi Iriawan, provincial governor Rusli Habibie had received numerous complaints that civil servants "only gave their wives some money to buy meals on a daily basis".

The wives alleged that their husbands were blocking financial access because they may be having affairs.

A Paris court is to rule on whether sex toys are erotic or pornographic after religious groups complained the sale of the items 100 yards from a school breaks French law.

In the US and UK the market for clothing for pets is growing. But is it a sensible bit of indulgence or an inappropriate fad, asks Helen Soteriou.

A magistrate has praised the actions of a man who stole a wallet and two mobile phones, then turned himself in to police when he found images of what he thought was child pornography on one of the phones, a court has heard.

The man appeared in Ballarat Magistrates Court yesterday, where a suppression order was issued preventing his name from being published.

Upon learning the man's actions had led to child pornography charges being laid against a 46-year-old man, magistrate Michelle Hodgson said he needed to be congratulated.

A new government decree has just authorised cyclists in the French capital to go through red lights, after road safety experts deemed the measure would cut road accidents.
It follows a fierce three-year campaign by cyclists' associations.
Under the new system, which will be first tested on 15 crossroads in the East of the French capital, cyclists are allowed to turn right or go straight ahead even when the lights are red.
They must, however, make way for pedestrians and incoming traffic on the left and will be held responsible in the event of an accident.

A Ugandan MP has revived a controversial anti-gay bill but dropped the provision for the death penalty for certain homosexual acts.

A BBC correspondent says MPs laughed, clapped and cried out: "Our bill, our bill," when its architect David Bahati reintroduced the draft legislation on Tuesday.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill was shelved in 2011 after an international outcry.

It still increases the punishment to life in prison for homosexual offences.

Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda - a largely conservative society, where many condemn homosexuality.

Anyone failing to report to the authorities a person they knew to be homosexual would also be liable to prosecution.

Iran has added dolls of The Simpsons cartoon characters to the list of banned toys in the country.

BEER goggles can make someone appear attractive at the end of a big night, but most Aussies say sex is better without alcohol.
But that doesn't stop us using drinking as a crutch for dating and relationships.

One in four Aussies have never had a booze-free first date and 20 per cent admit to having a confidence-boosting drink beforehand, a survey of 1000 people by febfast found.

The survey also revealed alcohol could kill the mood in the bedroom, with 74 per cent of women and 68 per cent of men preferring sober sex.

Febfast encourages Aussies to give up booze for a month to raise funds for alcohol and drug support services for young people.

The Victorian child from Ballarat yesterday narrowly avoided needing to be rescued by the fire brigade after he managed to climb into the vending machine to get at the toys and lollies inside.

Noah Jeffrey, 3, was so determined to grab himself a toy from inside the machine in a Zagames restaurant play area that he climbed through the retrieval gate, up the chute and into the machine proper.

Once inside, he quickly began to establish his generosity, emptying the machine of toys to a crowd of children gathered outside and then starting to eat the lollies in the machine.

A zoo in central Kazakhstan, where overnight temperatures have dipped to nearly -40C, is giving monkeys a wine concoction as a remedy against flu.

Karaganda Zoo chief animal specialist Svetlana Pilyuk told local media it was not a matter of making the animals drunk but of "relaxing" them.

The red wine is diluted with hot water and mixed with sugar and fruit.

THE woman who stunned telly viewers by revealing she has slept with more than 1,000 men told The Sun yesterday: "I used to be a MAN."

Crystal Warren, born Christopher Snowden, changed gender in 2005.

The cougar, 42, who revealed her sex addiction to This Morning host Eamonn Holmes, said she told few lovers her secret but added: "They never asked."

Sex addict Crystal last night admitted many of her 1,000-plus lovers will be furious when they learn she used to be a man.

 

Crystal said: "I'm scared there will be a lot of angry men out there reading this but I have to tell the truth.

 

A German pensioner who received a tin of American lard 64 years ago in an aid package has only just tasted it, after discovering that it is still edible.

"I just didn't want to throw it away," said Hans Feldmeier, 87.

Food safety experts in Rostock, his home town on Germany's Baltic coast, said the pig fat was still safe to eat.

Mr Feldmeier was a student in 1948 when the US was running a huge aid programme to rebuild war-ravaged Germany. He kept the tin of lard for emergencies.

A retired pharmacist, he decided to get the lard tested because of the debate about expiry dates and food safety.

Police are investigating a criminal gang that allegedly stole blocks of ice from the Jorge Montt Glacier in southern Chile.

Bus drivers in Brighton and Hove have been told not to call passengers "babe" or any such familiar terms. But how offensive are they?

Eric Morecambe called his guests "sunshine", Coronation Street's Vera Duckworth used to call anyone and everyone "chuck" - but bus drivers in Brighton are being asked to think twice before they refer to passengers as "babe", "love" or "darling".

According to the Brighton Argus, the Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company received one complaint about the comments being "sexist".

As a result, bosses have asked drivers to refrain from using such terms.

Last week, 500 tacos appeared at the mayor's office in East Haven, Conn. But they weren't intended for a casual luncheon.

Instead, this truckload of tacos was meant to be a symbol of discontent. An immigration reform group sent the fare in protest to what they said was an insensitive comment from Mayor Joseph Maturo in reference to Latinos and tacos.

The Connecticut activists join a long line of protesters who've resorted to food in the name of public humiliation. Perhaps the most famous act was the disposal of 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of taxation without representation.

More recently, disconcerted citizens have made bold statements with cream-laden pies. Dozens of politicians, including Jim Rhodes and Willie Brown, have fallen victim to pieing. Even in the safety of a courtroom, Rupert Murdoch couldn't escape the pie-wielding partisans.

Native dog breeds such as the English Setter are being pushed towards extinction by the growing popularity of more exotic dogs such as huskies and Chihuahuas, new figures suggest.

The setter, once a popular working dog, is one of the country's oldest breeds.

But statistics from the Kennel Club show a two thirds decline in puppy registrations over the last 10 years.

The Chihuahua, popularised by celebrity owners like Paris Hilton, saw a 25% increase in registrations last year.

A GEELONG radio station's new competition has been slammed as "pornography on training wheels" and criticised for objectifying women.
K-Rock is offering adult store gift packs to the winners of its best beach bum contest, which is heavily promoted on its website, the Geelong Advertiser said.

The public is encouraged to select their favourite from the entries posted online, including women and men in bathers, lingerie and underwear.

Dishes eaten at Chinese New Year carry great significance, as does the way a Burns Night supper is presented. But these are not the only meals which represent something to diners and the reasons we attach meaning are as myriad as the food itself.

It seems odd that a small parcel of tasty filling encased in a light dough wrapper can represent so much.

But the jiaozi dumpling symbolises prosperity to diners, who traditionally sit down for a family feast on the eve of Chinese New Year. It also means wealth when the dumpling is crescent shaped, like the gold ingot once used in ancient China as money.

A plan to allow people to shoot cats found on public land has raised the ire of a Bendigo animal welfare group.

The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia's Victoria branch is lobbying the state government to allow its members to shoot cats in state and national parks, the Bendigo Advertiser reports.

The association's chief executive officer Don Piccoli said cats were destroying Victoria's wildlife and the government had to act

About 2,000 Malawian women Friday staged a protest against attacks on trouser-wearing women, who were stripped in the streets this week by a gang of unemployed youths and sidewalk vendors.

...

On Wednesday police announced that 15 men had been arrested in connection with the incident, prompting President Bingu wa Mutharika to defend women's right to wear whatever they liked.

Until 1994, women in this deeply conservative poor nation were banned from wearing pants, during the long dictatorship of Kamuzu Banda.

 

Harrowing photographs of more than 1,000 dogs crammed into tiny cages have enraged animal rights activists in China and around the world.

The city of Los Angeles could lose its unofficial title as the "pornography capital of America" after the local council sponsored a move to ensure male performers wear condoms.

A snack maker in Australia has won approval to call its product "Nuckin Futs" after authorities accepted the f-word was part of the country's vernacular.

CAT owners are living in fear of a person in Victoria threatening to kill their feline friends.
Notices posted in a Bendigo shopping centre are warning people that some of their prized pets have been trapped and the perpetrator would kill three captive cats.

The first notice, titled "Cat Death" explains the person bought a cat trap and set it up in their backyard.

“All cats will be humanely destroyed. If your cat strays outside your yard and it disappears then it is likely that this is what happened,” the notice reads.

THE bravery of a red cattle dog has been credited with saving the lives of two Queensland children in Ipswich from the bite of a highly venomous eastern brown snake.
River, an 18-month-old bitch, jumped between the rearing snake and the children as they ran towards a swing set in the front yard of their Coalfalls home on Saturday morning.

THEY may be a man's best friend, but research asserts that having a dog will do nothing for a happy household.
A study has found that a family dog will cause almost 2000 family arguments in its lifetime - that's 156 rows a year over an average dog's lifespan of 12.8 years.

The most common cause of canine-related conflict is what to do with the dog during holidays, closely followed by whose turn it is to walk the mutt.

A quarter of owners also regularly row about where the dog should be allowed in the house, with the most frequent battlefields being the bed and the couch.

Plenty of mothers have referred to their offspring as 'little devils', but Tasmanian devil mums Phoenix and Lucy would be correct to do so.

At Melbourne's Healsville Sanctuary, baby devils had their first vet checks yesterday at the Australian Wildlife Health Centre. Blood was collected from the animals and they were microchipped.

This breeding season, 21 baby devils - or joeys - were born at Healsville Sanctuary. The species faces extinction in the wild due to Devil Facial Tumour Disease.

A better start in life makes males more attractive to females - for mosquitofish at least.

Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) have discovered female mosquitofish prefer males with a strong nutritional upbringing.

The preference is there even when the males are otherwise identical to previously undernourished fish.

Step aside, Dennis the Menace. The worst kiddie role model of the modern age is that infamous miscreant Peppa Pig. It would appear Peppa and her brother George have been inciting small children to jump in puddles, reject vegetables, splatter cake-mix and – deep breath – to mock their parents. I am startled by this on various levels. Firstly, it seems there are adults who can watch Peppa Pig without reaching for Strychnine. It also means that parents exist who are so blessed with free time they loll about watching cartoons with their offspring, rather than using the TV as a nanny and sedative.
Strangest of all, however, is the knowledge they believe their infant’s misbehaviour is derived from cartoon characters. If that were the case, I would have spent my entire childhood dropping anvils on my siblings’ heads, in the manner of Tom and Jerry. Indeed, levels of cheek and violence in children’s cartoons seem vastly reduced since the days of Bugs Bunny and co.

The Branding Villa pub has created a non-alcoholic beer for dogs and is inviting its customers to bring their four-legged friends in to have a pint or two.

Pictures on an NHS-backed breastfeeding group of two girls pretending to feed dolls were removed for 'policy violation'

Facebook has apologised after it deleted a page showing two little girls pretending to breastfeed their dolls.

Express Yourself Mums – an NHS-backed breastfeeding website – discovered its group had been removed on Friday for a "policy violation".

The previous day co-owner Sharon Blackstone had posted a picture of her seven-year-old daughter Maya playing with her doll.

 

For the first time in memory, unmarried Americans will soon outnumber those who are married, according to the latest research. So is this a watershed moment?

At first glance it would appear that, in common with many Western countries, marriage is in terminal decline in the United States.

In 1960, 72% of all American adults were married; in 2010 just 51% were, according to the Pew Centre. The number dropped sharply by 5% in the most recent year, 2009-10.

The Chinese flag was flying proudly above the imposing neo-classical facade of the former Shanghai Club, but the party going on inside was a throwback to the glory days of upper-class English society

Wildlife rangers in the Northern Territory have captured a 1.7-metre crocodile in the living area of a Darwin home.

A Bees Creek family woke early yesterday morning to their dog barking and went to investigate.

They discovered a saltwater crocodile had wandered into a living area which is partly open to surrounding bush.

The shadowy Calabrian mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, has become one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the Western world through its dominance of the European cocaine trade. For the first time, local syndicate bosses described their business model to SPIEGEL. It's a mixture of entrepreneurial talent, skillful management and deadly ruthlessness.

The Thivillons have been caring for Digit the gorilla for more than a decade, but having a primate at home throws up some unlikely problems.

In a village near Lyon in south-east France, a couple have become local celebrities by virtue of their adopted child.

Digit, as she is known, is a gorilla and has been living in the same room as Pierre and Elaine Thivillon for nearly 13 years.

Their relationship began in 1999, when the young primate came into the care of the couple, who manage the zoo at Saint Martin la Plaine where she was born.

Within three days of her birth, it was clear that Digit's mother Pamela was refusing to feed her. The Thivillons took her into their care, bottle-feeding her during the day and returning her to her enclosure at night.

By 18 months old, the baby gorilla had begun to show a deep attachment to her foster parents. After an illness left her requiring 24-hour care, Pierre and Elaine took her into their bedroom at night, where she has slept ever since.

The Maldives government has ordered all spas in resorts to be closed after protests by an Islamist party which claimed they were being used as a front for prostitution.

A TODDLER has survived a snake attack in his backyard after neighbours rushed to pull a python off the boy as it tried to suffocate him.
The boy’s mother told of her terror as she saw the python coiled around the two-year-old and trying to suffocate him.

NORTHERN TERRITORIANS are on the lookout for crocodiles in the wake of tropical Cyclone Grant.
And Queenslanders are on alert as the cyclone threatens to redevelop on Friday.

Northern Territory chief minister Paul Henderson warned residents to stay clear of waterways as the region recovers from the cyclone.

In an emergency message from the Northern Territory government, residents were warned not to swim or wade in flood waters in case they came across the monster reptiles.

A FEMALE robber dubbed the "Bumcrack Bandit" may be behind the Gold Coast's latest shooting, in the same suburb where police officer Damian Leeding was gunned down.

A HUGE saltwater crocodile has charged at two workers at a reptile park north of Sydney and stolen their lawnmower.
The five-metre croc, named Elvis, attacked the staff at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford after they went into its enclosure about 9am (AEST) today.

The men used their lawnmowers as a barrier when the hulking beast lunged. They escaped unharmed.

The sorrow over losing the "Dear Leader" has not been confined to humans, as a group of birds were also seen gathered to "mourn" Kim Jong-il, according to North Korea's state television

Tortoises aren’t noted for their speed but they are surprisingly quick-witted

David Cameron has effectively given up hope of lifting Labour’s ban on foxhunting, Government sources have revealed.

Senior figures have told the Daily Telegraph that the promised Commons vote on repealing the ban will not be held next year and is unlikely in 2013 either.

And even when a vote is eventually held, senior Conservatives are resigned to the Commons opting to maintain the ban.

 

Prison is so comfortable for some inmates that they are getting themselves locked up again after being released, according to the Chief Inspector of Prisons.

A mysterious bony growth found in elephants' feet is actually a sixth "toe", scientists report.

For more than 300 years, the structure has puzzled researchers, but this study suggests that it helps to support elephants' colossal weight.

Fossils reveal that this "pre-digit" evolved about 40 million years ago, at a point when early elephants became larger and more land-based.

The research is published in the journal Science.

An Indonesian girl swept out to sea in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and long feared drowned has apparently turned up in her village and been reunited with her parents seven years later.

"LESBIAN vampire killer" Tracey Wigginton, who stabbed a man to death and drank his blood, is expected to be released from prison within weeks after an independent parole board decision.
Wigginton has been in jail since 1991, serving a life sentence for the infamous 1989 stabbing murder of Brisbane council worker Edward Baldock, 47.

Wigginton, along with three other women, lured Baldock into a car at Kangaroo Point and took him to a riverside park in West End, where she stabbed him 27 times.

People queuing to see the panda enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo are being hit by penguin droppings as the curious birds have been watching proceedings.

Rockhopper penguins have been standing along the edge of their enclosure since the pandas arrived earlier this month.

The penguins are higher than the panda enclosure due to the site being on Corstorphine Hill.

First, Japan gave the world hi-tech lavatories. Now, a crystal lavatory – studded with more than 72,000 pieces of Swarovski cut crystal and valued at over $100,000

Lavatory manufacturer INAX teamed up with the Austrian jeweller to create the ornate fixture, which is on display in a showroom in the posh Ginza shopping district, an effort to draw more customers in a year fraught with economic gloom and natural disaster.

In a nod to traditional belief, the sparkling lavatory was created to please the "god of lavatories," said Kazuo Sumimiya, director of the showroom for the Lixil interior fixture company of which INAX is a part.

"In Japan, we believe a deity exists in the lavatory. That's why keeping lavatories clean and taking good care of it have been a Japanese custom since long ago," he added.

 

A sealed package containing heroin was found in an 80-year-old Foreign Office file at the National Archives, its managers have said.

The Class A drug was filed with a document from the British Consulate in Cairo about a 1928 court case.

The off-white powder, discovered by a member of the public who asked to see the file, was sent for analysis.

And having been confirmed as heroin, the substance was handed over to the Metropolitan Police.

The pouch - which contained less than a gram of heroin in 19 sachets - has been replaced with a photo and the file is now back on public display.

A talking dog has topped YouTube's list of most watched videos in the UK for 2011.

The clip shows the pet being teased by its owner about food treats given to others.

The unfortunate mutt appears to speak English, saying "You're kidding me!" after yet another treat escapes his grasp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw

Two Swedes have been arrested by Norwegian police for smuggling more than 250kg of butter into the country, offloading one consignment for more than £25 a packet.

Fresh snow brings out the playful side of two giant pandas in Nanshan Park in the eastern Shandong province.

A TAXI driver could not believe his ears when told his fare was a dog, 3220km and 38 hours away.

John Jupp said he was called by a woman who had used his cab before.

"She asked if I take dogs in my taxi. As she had previously been a good customer, I said yes. She then asked me to give her a price to pick the dog up and bring it to her house in Knightsbridge, so I asked her for the address.

"Her reply was truly a moment I will not forget: Madrid," the taxi driver said.

The round journey from Knightsbridge in London to Madrid in Spain is about 3220km and would take around 38 hours.

A model presents a creation with adornments made of chocolate during a chocolate fashion show at the World Chocolate Wonderland, in Shanghai which opens today

HELL hath no fury like a woman scorned. That was the harsh, $45 million lesson given to ING Australia by one of its former accountants.
A Sydney mum siphoned off tens of thousands of dollars over a decade, clocking up millions in a fraud plot motivated by revenge, Fairfax media reported.

Rijina Rita Subramaniam told a Sydney court she was trying to get back at a former workmate, over claims of sexual abuse in their relationship.

A prostitute has appeared in court in Zimbabwe charged with assault after she bit the penis of a client who refused to pay her.

A sandwich which stays fresh for up to two years has been developed for the US army as Dr George McGavin found out as part of his investigation into what happens when food rots.

A NAVAL officer found guilty of spanking a junior sailor will serve a maximum of 18 months in jail and be dismissed from the Navy.
John Alan Jones has also been demoted from Lieutenant Commander to Lieutenant effective immediately.

Jones was sentenced today, a day after a court martial found him guilty of seven indecent acts.

This included four occasions when he spanked a junior female sailor serving on the same ship.

The court martial also found him guilty of telling the sailor to take off her pants and then pulling down her underwear, making her lift up her top, and touching her bottom.

Indonesian sharia police are "morally rehabilitating" more than 60 young punk rock fans in Aceh province on Sumatra island, saying the youths are tarnishing the province's image.

Since being arrested at a punk rock concert in the provincial capital Banda Aceh on Saturday night, 59 male and five female punk rock fans have been forced to have their hair cut, bathe in a lake, change clothes and pray.

Six green plastic sheep on a West Sussex roundabout have been put behind bright yellow safety barriers to stop drivers thinking they are real.

The fake flock was installed at the junction on the A283 in Shoreham at the end of November to reflect the South Downs National Park status.

West Sussex County Council said the sheep had also been painted green to stop drivers thinking they were real.

But it said it was working with the sponsor on a long-term solution.

Actor Hulk Hogan denies ex-wife's claims he had a homosexual affair with fellow wrestler Brutus Beefcake.

Fiji's military regime has forced sex workers to parade with traffic cones on their heads and declare "I will never sell myself again".

If we were to draw a pen portrait of an average chocolate buyer, she would be an older, relatively traditional woman living in the Midwest or Southern regions of America. 65% of chocolate buyers are women; 52% are over the age of 50, and 66% live either in the Midwest or the South.

Their values and attitudes paint a picture of traditional middle America, but with a tendency to love shopping: 67% “enjoy grocery shopping”; 55% “enjoy clothes shopping”; and 39% agree they “were born to shop”. Further, 86 % like to try free samples in supermarkets and almost 77% say they will go out of their way in search of a bargain.

A traditional court in Zimbabwe has fined Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for breaking a cultural taboo by paying a bride price in November.

He was ordered to pay two cows, two sheep and 10 metres of cotton cloth.

The prime minister refused to attend the hearing because it was "manifestly illegal", his lawyer said.

Mr Tsvangirai paid a bride price to marry a businesswoman before calling off their relationship, saying it had been "hijacked" for political reasons.

A black cat in Italy has lived up to its reputation for good luck after inheriting 10 million euros (£8.5 million) from his adoptive owner, a widowed heiress.

Plastic bottles brighten Kenyan shanty town

A pygmy elephant has gored an Australian woman to death in a remote wildlife park on Borneo island in Malaysia.

The 25-year-old from New South Wales was trekking with a friend and a Malaysian guide in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah state when they were attacked by the rare pygmy elephant, state wildlife department director Laurentius Ambu said.

Mr Ambu told AFP that the bull may have been startled when the two tourists tried to take its photo and charged at them.

While the guide and one woman managed to get away, the elephant's tusk pierced the other woman's body and she died instantly, he said.

Chocolate-makers around the world are reporting buoyant sales despite the economic gloom.

One UK company has reported a 25% surge in profits. In Syria, one of the largest producers has increased sales over the past six years from 150 packs a day to more than a million.

One of its biggest successes is a 2ft-long wafer exported to Iraq called Today King Size.

Analyst Marcia Mogelonsky from Mintel said: "Unlike a lot of other foodstuffs chocolate is somewhat recession-resistant.

A two star Michelin restaurant in Tokyo has suspended its head chef after a diner came close to death having eaten the potentially poisonous puffer fish.

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden discussed payments of almost £200,000 to get a Stockholm nightclub owner to retract a claim he had allegedly attended sex parties at the club, a newspaper reported.

BEETHOVEN, Mozart and Bach have soothed minds for centuries, but now they have new fans in homeless dogs and cats.
The Animal Welfare League's animal shelter at Wingfield has set up a music distribution system - thanks to volunteer and former ABC technician Steve Hughes - to play classical music around the clock.

Studies have found classical music can relax animals, while also helping them cope with separation anxiety.

As the annual spectacle of celebrities eating jungle nasties draws to a close this weekend, what's the nutritional value of an I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! style diet?

Former MP Terry Martin's hypersexuality was an illness that had to be treated as a mitigating factor in considering his sentence on child sex charges, a judge in Tasmania said yesterday.

Justice David Porter said the two crimes committed by Martin were directly related to the side effects of a drug he was prescribed to treat his Parkinson's disease.

Martin, who had been in custody since the two guilty verdicts were returned last week, walked from the Supreme Court in Hobart yesterday after receiving a 10-month suspended sentence.

Advertisement: Story continues below
Martin was found guilty of having sexual intercourse with a young person under the age of 17 years and producing child exploitation material.

Restaurants around the world will soon use new DNA technology to assure patrons they are being served the genuine fish fillet or caviar they ordered, rather than inferior substitutes, an expert in genetic identification says.

Three more restaurants in the Tokyo region won their third Michelin star today, taking the total for Japan to 32 after 15 were named in the west of the country last month. That compares to 25 in France in 2011.
Sushi Yo@!$%#ake in Tokyo joins the selection with three stars; Ryugin in Tokyo is promoted from two; and Koan in Shonan (Fujisawa) joins the selection with three. Thirteen more gain two stars, for a total of 57. They include a Korean venue, Moranbong, the first in the world to gain that status.
Another 54 establishments win a first star, raising the number in the Tokyo region to 219, Michelin said today in an e-mailed release.

With its chrome counter and cherry pie, the diner is an icon of American culture. What's the global appeal of this humble eatery,

A SENIOR Australian Navy officer has faced a military court over allegations he spanked a junior female sailor on her bare bottom on repeated occasions throughout last year.
Royal Australian Navy officer John Alan Jones today pleaded not guilty in the Australian Military Court to nine charges of an act of indecency without consent, five charges of assaulting a subordinate and nine charges of prejudicial conduct relating to contravening defence military procedures

A long-tailed macaque eats fruit and vegetables during the annual monkey buffet festival at the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple in Lopburi

Record numbers of young Japanese do not have boyfriends or girlfriends, and many do not want one, according to a survey by the country's government.

Archaeologists in Mexico have confirmed the discovery of a possible second Mayan reference to the date 2012, offering further ammunition for doom-mongers predicting an apocalypse next year.

BIKIE Inc's ugly bootprint on the tattoo business is the dark secret of a $100 million a year industry.
Thousands of customers inked in Queensland parlours are unwittingly lining the pockets of organised crime figures, who include convicted arsonists, heroin traffickers, ice dealers and notorious underworld hard men, the Courier-Mail reported.

While Bandidos and Finks outlaw motorcycle club bosses win celebrity endorsements from footballers and US rappers for their Brisbane and Gold Coast parlours, their non-bikie "civilian" rivals are all too often targets for extortion, intimidation and violence.

Staffordshire bull terriers have been unfairly “stigmatised” as dangerous dogs and make “perfectly harmless” family pets, a government minister has said.

The dogs, affectionately known as “Staffies”, are not on the government’s banned list and most of the breed posed no threat to humans, according to Jim Paice, the agriculture minister.
Mr Paice told MPs that he had grown up with bull terriers as a child and backed a campaign to “reclaim the breed’s good name”.

A SUPREME Court judge ruled today that a person who is not under arrest is entitled to do a runner from police seeking to question them.
Justice Stephen Kaye said Sydney man Andrew Hamilton was under no obligation to stop and speak to police when they approached him after receiving a complaint over an unpaid restaurant bill.

The judge said that it was an ancient principle of the common law that no one has to stop and speak to police or answer their questions and there was no legislation in Victoria that alters that right.

A Russian woman has spent more than £4,000 on 100 silicone injections to give her the world’s biggest lips in the style of Jessica Rabbit.

Secondary school skirts – too short, too long or just right?

Around New Zealand you'll see a full range – winter kilts that drag on the ground, summer dresses below the knee, and skirts that are mid-thigh or even higher.

In Britain, skirts that are mid-thigh or higher have been causing angst; so much so that some schools have banned skirts altogether and made trousers compulsory.

This issue attracted international attention, with the Los Angeles Times reporting on schools such as Nailsea, in southwestern England, which banned skirts after pupils struggled to keep their skirts at the specified length of just above the knee or lower.

An outright ban of skirts seemed the best option, headmaster David New was reported as saying.

KANGAROO is set to bounce back on to Russian dinner tables after a two-year ban on the meat prompted by a hygiene scare, according to the Russian ambassador.
The return of the trade would be a boost for Queensland kangaroo shooters and meat processing facilities, who have suffered badly since the 2009 import ban.

Up to 2000 jobs could be restored, many in Queensland.

Half a dozen factories in the state, including two in Brisbane, have been mothballed since the ban was imposed.

A survey, using innovative technology, has offered an insight into people's showering habits.

The average shower lasted eight minutes - much longer than previous studies suggested, using almost as much water and energy as the average bath.

The information was compiled from "data loggers" that recorded 2,600 showers by 100 families over a 10-day period.

The survey was carried out by producer Unilever, which wanted to find out how people were using their products.

The twelfth wife of Swaziland's autocratic king, who allegedly had an affair with his justice minister last year, has been thrown out of the Royal palace without her children.

Feline agility competitions, in which cats run through a miniature obstacle course full of hurdles and tunnels, have become fixtures on the cat show scene. Modeled after canine agility competitions, the tournaments feature a ring in which cat owners — some of whom have trained their pets from kittenhood — brandish a feather or sparkly wand to try to coax a cat to climb stairs, weave around poles and leap through hoops in as little time as possible.

Women might dream of tall, dark and handsome, but researchers are claiming that it is men of average height who are having the most children.

Scientists studying men in the US said those who were 178cm (5ft 10in) were the most reproductively successful.

Writing in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, they said such men produced, on average, more than two-and-a-half children.

The authors said it might be due to men of average height marrying earlier.

Nothing, it seems, is immune to the impact of the economic slowdown: jobs, homes, businesses – now even the family pet. Cats, dogs and horses are facing deliberate injury – or even paying the ultimate price – as owners seek payouts from pet insurance policies.

Fake claims on pet policies, which range from injuries inflicted by owners to claims related to non-existent pets, are now the fastest growing area of insurance fraud. Figures from the Association of British Insurers show that detected pet insurance fraud soared to nearly £2m last year, from £420,000 the year before. But the true extent of the fraud, counting all the false claims paid out, is thought to be much higher and is pushing up the cost of policies, which now average £220 a year.

People who allow their dogs to foul public areas could soon face on-the-spot fines of £1,000, after a frustrated council asked the government to consider changing the law to increase their powers.

WHILE Fido is his frisbee-catching best mate, his glam neighbour's pug Sugarplum is a fab accessory for her Prada tote.
New website, pawclub.com.au, has divided dog owners into five categories: the Fashionista, the Bestie, the All Star, the L-Plater and the Guru.

After answering questions on their "dog parenting" style a quarter of all dog owners came in as Fashionistas who pamper their pooches' every need.

Switzerland's highest court has ruled that local authorities can impose fines on people hiking nude in the Alps.

The federal court threw out an appeal by a man who was fined after hiking past a family picnic area with no clothes on.

Judges said the eastern canton (region) of Appenzell had been entitled to uphold a law on public decency.

They said the ban on naked hiking was only a marginal infringement on personal freedom.

Britain's 'cheapest' lunchtime meal was unveiled by scientists on Wednesday - the toast sandwich.

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is reviving the mid-Victorian dish, which, unsurprisingly, consists of two slices of bread around a slice of toast.

... The RSC's Dr John Emsley said: "You simply put a piece of dry toast between two slices of bread and butter, with salt and pepper to taste. I've tried it and it's surprisingly nice to eat and quite filling.

Look out, heat fiends. A chili pepper so outrageously hot that it makes 2 in 3 people who eat it throw up is about to hit online stores.

"Your heart will race, you'll sweat. You might shake, you might throw up. But once it gets into your blood stream and gets into your brain the capsaicin releases the same endorphins that narcotics do. So you get a euphoric feeling."

Imagine a guy and his buffalo walk into a bar... no, no, really, this happens on a fairly regular basis in Spruce Grove, a small town in Alberta, Canada, where Jim Sautner and his three-year-old, 1,800-pound buffalo hit the town in Sautner's specially modified red Pontiac Parisienne.

Stony Plain Reporter/Spruce Grove Examiner
Jim Sautner and his pet buffalo, Bailey Jr.
When he's not driving, Bailey Jr., as the bison is called, even kicks back with a beer.