A German roofer is facing a big bill after emergency services mistook him for a potential suicide jumper. Police sealed off a busy main road and called out the fire brigade and negotiators to talk to Dieter Holmblutter, 30, who was on the roof of a five storey building in Saarbruecken.
But the roofer was so […]

America’s Largest Invention Trade Show, announces that David Friedman, from Boca Raton, Fla., has invented a cookie-dunking device for children. This invention was exhibited at INPEX, June 7-10, in Pittsburgh.
Eating cookies and milk is a childhood pastime that never seems to go out of favor. “Mr. Dunk” would help to make the cookie-dunking experience more […]

English scientists are offering parents £20 ($36/€29) for their children’s head lice.
Researchers are trying to find new ways to treat new super-lice, which are becoming resistant to conventional cures.
Now a team at Bristol University want to collect as many parasites as possible in order to find new treatments.
Some will be studied at the university’s veterinary […]

When it comes to national pride, you just can’t beat the good old USA. Researchers at the University of Chicago say Americans top the list when it comes to pride in their country. Venezuela is a close runner-up, followed by Ireland.
The survey measured how proud people are of their country in ten categories, including economic […]

A tsunami warning system covering the Indian Ocean region is now “up and running”, Unesco has said. The UN organisation, which has overseen the project, says the whole region can now receive and distribute warnings of possible tsunamis.
The system is in place 18 months after the devastating tsunami of December 2004 that killed more than […]

Queen Elizabeth costs each UK taxpayer 62 pence ($1.13) a year, with the overall cost of running the royal family increasing above the rate of inflation, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday.
The Royal Public Finances report said the queen’s family and household spending was 37.4 million pounds, or $68.1 million, a 4.2% increase from the previous […]

A Californian man who kept 1,000 pet rats in his one bed home has admitted his colony “had gotten a bit out of control.
Roger Dier, 67, of Petaluma, insisted the rodents loved him and he loved them, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
But he has been charged with animal cruelty and had his pets taken away.
Nancee […]

Axl Rose, the lead singer of Guns N’ Roses, has been arrested for allegedly biting a hotel security guard during a fight.
Swedish police say Rose is being held on suspicion of attacking and threatening the guard.
Swedish tabloids say the fight started when the guard tried to break up an argument with a woman in the […]

Bollywood’s new flying superhero has asked fans, especially children, not to imitate his onscreen death-defying stunts after a man leapt off a cinema balcony in central India, breaking his leg.
“The action scenes are meant to be enjoyed, not imitated. Please do not indulge in these stunts,” Hrithik Roshan, who plays “Krrish,” a Superman-style hero who […]

Shown above is a photo of the Kapuas mud snake Enhydris gyii, recently discovered in Kalimantan.
Researchers searching through swamps in the heart of Borneo (Southeast Asia) have discovered a species of snake that can change its skin colour, the World Wild Life Fund (WWF) said Tuesday.
The ability to change skin colour is known in some […]