Hat tricks

Paramilitary police recruits stand still as they balance hats on their heads during a training session at a military base in Hefei, Anhui province, China.

Aquarium Telephone Booth in France

Benoit Deseille and Benedetto Bufalino have transformed a regular telephone booth into a functioning aquarium for the Lyon Light Festival in France.

Camper van hangs on cliff edge as Italian Job gone to Colorado

It must have been a long and sweaty wait inside the van for a tow truck.

But Daniel Lyons didn’t really have the option of popping out to stretch his legs.

The 34-year-old was discovered by rescuers sitting in his swaying Dodge camper van, 170ft from the ground. The van had plunged down the rock face at the Colorado National Monument in the U.S. in a scene reminiscent of the film The Italian Job.

Terrified Daniel had desperately tried to balance the weight of the van to prevent him from plunging to certain death.

But in his confusion he climbed on to the back seat - which was already hanging off the cliff.

Rescue crews who raced to the scene of the accident found Daniel cowering in the swaying vehicle.

They managed to manoeuvre him from the van and up the cliff face before he was airlifted to hospital.

Mr Lyons was treated for minor injuries.

Park superintendent Joan Anzelmo said: ‘It’s truly a miracle. Another few inches or a foot and that car would have continued on to the base of the canyon. No one survives those types of accidents.’

Father shoots his wife, five children and himself dead after being fired from hospital job

A father shot his wife and five young children to death, then committed suicide, after the couple were fired from their hospital jobs.

The 10 Poorest Countries Of The World

01. Republic of the Congo

02. Republic of Liberia

03. Republic of Zimbabwe

04. The Solomon Islands

05. Republic of Somalia

06. Union of the Comoros

07. Guinea-Bissau

08. Central African Republic

09. Niger

10. Ethiopia

The level of economy in countries around the globe is not even. It is somewhere very high and somewhere very low. GDP, literacy rate and employment rate are several parameters of a country to determine the level of its economy. According to a report of the United Nations, hunger causes the death of about 25,000 people everyday. Unfortunately, the number of children is greater than that of adults. Consider several facts of income disparity between rich and poor nations to measure the cleavage between the haves and the haves not. The combined income of the world’s richest individuals leaves far behind that of the poorest 416 million. 982 million out of 4.8 billion people in the developing world live on $1 a day. Another 2.5 billion live on below $2 a day. 40% of the poorest population made up 5% of world income while 20% of the richest population made up 75% of global income in 2005.

A country with a GDP per capita of $765 dollars or less is defined as a low-income or poor country. You may wonder why poor countries remain poor. Some interrelated factors like geography, industrialization, colonialism, education, resources, infrastructure, overpopulation, investment, government and debt make poor countries remain the heavy foot of poverty.

Security robot that nets burglars with spider web spray

Burglars beware! A new robotic security guard has been unveiled that can sense an intruder and launch a net to capture them.

The prototype T-34 trundles along on four small wheels and it loaded with sensors that can detect anything untoward in an office building.


Created by robot developer tmsuk and security firm Alacom the surveillance robot reacts to body heat and sound.

The zippy machine moves up to 6mph under the command of a person who sees real-time images of where the robot is on the screen of his mobile.

It can then be instructed to spray a 'spider web' net that entangles the intruder. The robot was demonstrated recently in Tokyo.

'Security sensors often set off false alarms but examining the location with the robot will lead to more efficient operations,' the companies said.

Special branch: Police officer who stuck to the chase even with a six-inch stick in his eye

A police officer who had been on the beat for just six days kept up the chase for his first suspect - even after tripping over and getting a six-inch stick impaled in his eye.

New officer John Nash slipped on a muddy lawn, sliding into a bush before dusting himself off and continuing to make an arrest.

But it was only when his suspect turned to him and said: 'Mate, you've got to go to hospital,' did he notice the broken-off branch sticking out of his left eye.

Pc Nash, aged 25, was in an unmarked police vehicle following two cars which were being driven erratically on an estate in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, when one of the cars was abandoned.

Two men ran off and the officer gave chase, cornering one in a dead end.

Pc Nash said: 'I had run across some grass to cut him off just as he got to a fence and drew my baton just as I got there.

'The weather was horrible - It was dark, cold and raining. The grass was boggy and I slipped.

'I was really motoring, really running and I slid into a shrub and I had a ringing in my left ear. I thought I'd hit my baton as I fell.

'The suspect was still trying to get over the fence and I grabbed his ankle. He kept referring to my face and I said: "That doesn't matter - come on". I just thought I'd given myself a black eye.

'Somebody said: "Get an ambulance quick - he's got something in his eye". I wondered whether he was talking about me.

'I looked across with my right eye and that's when I noticed a stick coming out of my left eye.

'I thought: "what the heck is that?"'

His shocked colleagues immediately took him to hospital in their patrol car, before he underwent three hours of surgery to remove the stick.

It had pierced his eye-lid, smashed a cheek-bone, forced itself underneath his eye-ball and come to rest up against his brain - surgeons told him was lucky to be alive.

He was discharged after three days and has retained some sight in the eye, which he hopes will eventually return to normal.

Surgeon Annaswami Vijaykumar, who operated on the eye at Blackburn Royal Hospital, said: 'If the piece of wood had entered a couple of millimetres differently the eye would have been permanently damaged. The operation was extremely complicated.

'The officer is very fortunate and lucky to be able to see again, currently the vision is limited at present but may improve with time.'

Pc Nash added: 'I would do the same again tomorrow. I love my job. I've always wanted to be in the police. It sounds corny but I've always wanted to help people.'

Pc Nash said doctors and warned his 23-year-old fiancée Rebecca Senior that the injury could be serious.

'Before the surgery I was told I might lose the sight of the eye and brain damage was likely,' he said.

'They told Rebecca it was life-threatening. Luckily, it only touched my brain and they managed to get it out.'

Rebecca said: 'I think it's just a miracle. I'm so proud of what he's done.'

Insp Ian Hanson, of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: 'Although John was extremely lucky, I suppose it shows the dangers that officers across Greater Manchester face on a daily basis.

The 20-year-old suspect arrested was later released without charge.

VIDEO: Daredevil surfer hitches a ride with a Great White Shark... a fin-tastic fake or the real deal?

As stunts go, baiting a Great White Shark to take you for a ride by towing your surfboard is an adrenalin rush unlikely to be matched again.

A video purporting to show just this has swept around the world via email in the last few days.

But there's just one small problem - does the footage show a foolhardy daredevil or is it a hoax?


Photographer Kem McNair claims he captured the hair-raising moment on home video from the shore at Florida's New Smyrna beach.

He said the stunt - dubbed 'shark-riding' - has become the latest, and most dangerous, extreme sports craze in more than a decade.

In his video, a 25-year-old male surfer is filmed being dragged along by a fishing line after baiting a shark with chunks of bloodied steak.

Clutching a fishing rod with meat on the hook, the clip begins with the surfer jumping off a pier into the sea. He casts his bait into the water and watches as a 4ft dorsal fin appears on the horizon and heads straight for the line.

After chomping on the bait the shark swims off with the surfer being dragged behind on his board, clutching the fishing line with both hands like a water-skier.

He reaches speeds of approximately 30mph as he races past stunned onlookers enjoying a dip in the sea.
After 30 seconds the line snaps and the shark disappears back into the abyss.

Mr McNair insists that what he captured on film has not been faked.

He said: 'I just happened to be panning the camera across the bay when I spotted this dude paddling around with a fishing rod.

'It was so bizarre I had to keep watching watching and it was just a fluke that I captured what happened next.

'He was surfing the breaks as a shark towed him along. The guy must be totally suicidal but it was rad to watch.

'I know a shark when I see one - and this was no hoax. I've got friends who can call any doubters up and set them straight.'

Great Whites are common in waters off Florida. While they usually remain in deep water, Great Whites often venture closer to shore - especially when attracted by floating chunks of meat.

10 Vehicles for 2010

1. Wood

2. Steam

3. People Power

4. ZAP Xebra

5. Smart Fortwo

6. Zoop

7. Loremo

8. Helios

9. The Air Car

10. VW 1-Liter

whale stranded dies on Irish beach as rescuers struggle to save it & its Record-breaking

A 65ft fin whale left stranded on a sandbar died this afternoon, despite desperate efforts to lead it back to the safety of the ocean.

The giant ocean mammal was discovered beached in Courtmacsherry Bay, off the coast of West Cork in Ireland.

The second largest animal on earth after the blue whale, the fin whale, was spotted by members of the local RNLI and a frantic rescue operation was launched.

It is thought the doomed whale may have swam into the bay overnight and then become stranded by a ridge of sand built up by ocean currents.

Coastguards battled for hours, trying to rescue the stricken animal but sadly the whale died at around 1.30pm.

Michael Hurley of the Courtmacsherry Lifeboat said of the giant mammal: 'His tail was up in the air waving about and he was very much alive at that time.

'I could see the spume of water being blown up. As time moved on, it became obvious he was getting more and more tired as his activity began to slow down.'

'He may have been injured at sea. There is a score mark along one of his sides as if he was in collision with a ship or a trawler which may have contributed to him getting into difficulty. The biggest problem now will be getting him off the beach as he has to be taken away to a rendering plant.'

One witness said: 'There was a big attempt to rescue the whale but the lifeboat couldn't get near it because the water was too shallow to sail in and too deep to walk through as the tide came in.

'The crew did their best but they just couldn't save it'.

He added: 'The last time this happened they disposed of the whale by blowing it up. But I don't think they'll do that this time.'
Mr Hurley explained that the whale will probably have to be moved by the county council with massive cranes and slings as he weighs about 15 tonnes. He said the creature measured over 65-foot in length and his tail measured 12 feet from tip to tip.

'He is probably one of the biggest ever seen in these waters. The Whale and Dolphin Group know of 65 whales who have been sighted in the Cork Harbour area but he is not one that they have come across before.'

Stranded whales can sometimes be safely coaxed back to the ocean. Rescues in the past have even seen volunteers plunging into the sea to give the gentle giants a push to send them back into the ocean.
There have even been cases where dolphins have been able to save whales where human efforts have failed.

In March last year, a dolphin came to the rescue of two whales which had become stranded on a beach in New Zealand.

Despite an hour-long rescue attempt by conservation officers, the pygmy whales repeatedly beached.

The team were close to giving up when a dolphin appeared, communicated with the whales and led them to safety.

Europe's smallest bird searching for food in the cold

In a stunning image of wildlife's wintry struggle, a tiny bird pecks seeds from a frosted thistle.

This is a rare glimpse of a goldcrest, Europe's smallest bird, which ventures into gardens in search of food only in very cold weather.

It was spotted in Arundel, West Sussex, where the temperature on Sunday morning was -9c (16f).

Goldcrests weigh about the same as a 20p piece and as adults grow to about three inches long.

They are listed as an amber species on the conservation register and there are thought to be only about 842,000 breeding pairs in Britain.

Their numbers suffered during successive harsh winters in the 1960s and the population never fully recovered.

Despite being susceptible to prolonged periods of freezing cold weather, they can endure sub-zero temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celcius.

And with lows of nearly minus ten degrees Celsius, which meant England colder than the Antarctic, the weather certainly has been freezing.

In Lark Hill in Wiltshire, temperatures plunged to - 9.7 degrees, the lowest recorded temperature in January in the last thirty years.

With freezing fog over many parts of England this weekend, the weather has been particularly grim.

But the cold snap is coming to an end and there is a brief period of respite on the way as temperatures move above freezing across most of the UK.

Sunday night was the first frost-free night since before Christmas and temperatures, which have been below freezing for weeks, are gradually increasing.

Met Office forecaster Stephen Holman said: 'Monday will be wet and windy across north western England, Wales and South West of England to start with and that will gradually transfer south eastwards so that even the South East of England will have rain by lunchtime.

'Behind the cloud of rain, there will be sunshine and scattered showers.

'There will be brighter weather in most places by the afternoon, except for in South East England which will become rainy.'

But it is not all good news as the frost is set to return mid week and temperatures will plunge to -3 degrees Celsius on Tuesday night.