World briefs

British Conservative leader David Cameron apologised yesterday after he was filmed cycling the wrong way up a one-way street and edging through a red light on his way to the House of Commons.

The Daily Mirror published a video and still pictures of Mr Cameron apparently breaking a string of traffic rules while cycling from his home in Notting Hill, west London, to Westminster. It published the pictures across the front page and two inside pages next to the headline Berk On A Bike.

They appeared to show Mr Cameron Cycling the wrong way on a one-way street; crossing a road with the "red man" sign showing going; the wrong way round a bollard; and edging past the white line at red traffic lights".

Clash of interest contraceptives

The Catholic Church has come under fire in a German town for preventing the sale of condoms in a drugstore whose premises are leased from the Church.

Pharmacy Schlecker has thousands of branches across Germany but a report this week that one shop in Fulda could not sell condoms has led to protests in the western town and sparked accusations the Church has failed to move with the times.

"It's like the Middle Ages. I don't know if this attitude is beneficial to the Church," Marlene Sormani, a local Schlecker manager, was quoted as saying by German radio.

The Church responded by saying it could not preach against using contraceptives and then allow their sale on its property.

Pensioner chases down thief

An 83-year-old German pensioner chased down a thief less than half her age and berated the man until he returned her handbag.

Police in the southern city of Augsburg said the 38-year-old man fled after he lifted the bag from a basket on the woman's bicycle. The pensioner jumped onto the bicycle and pursued him across a nearby park.

Once caught, the man tried unsuccessfully to push the woman over. The pensioner then scolded him until he returned the bag. The thief fled but he was later arrested by police.

ATM gives extra cash

A British cash machine became a big hit this week after it started paying out twice as much money as it should. The ATM, outside a supermarket in the city of Hull in northern England, began spewing out double the money on Tuesday afternoon and continued doing so for several hours, drawing a crowd of hundreds eager to cash in on the mistake.

Those requesting the maximum daily withdrawal of £300 were being given £600 and a receipt for £300. "People were calling their mates up and telling them to get down there," the Hull Daily Mail quoted a passer-by as saying. After several hours the machine finally ran out of money.

Tsunami of marriage proposals

When Silvio Berlusconi suggested the best way for an Italian woman to secure her financial future was to marry his son, the billionaire was condemned by political rivals. But hundreds of women have tried to follow his advice. "You may not know, but my son received more than 360 SMSs with offers of marriage," Mr Berlusconi told reporters. "One girl even sent a photo of herself in a wedding dress."

Mr Berlusconi, the centre-right opposition leader who is ahead in opinion polls to win the April 13-14 election, is famed for making "politically incorrect" quips. On a TV chat show last week he was asked by a young woman how to set up home without a secure income. Mr Berlusconi replied: "As a father, I would advise you to marry Berlusconi's son, or someone similar."

Rome's Mayor Walter Veltroni criticised the comment as insensitive, but the woman herself said she thought it was a good joke and would vote for Mr Berlusconi.

Anti-terror plans found in garbage

Canada will probe how blueprints for the new headquarters of an elite military counter-terrorism unit ended up in a pile of garbage, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said on Thursday.

The Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit, housed inside an armed forces base in Trenton, Ontario, is designed to cope with the aftermath of an attack using weapons of mass destruction.

The 26 blueprints were contained in one of seven defence ministry files that a passer-by found on top of garbage bags on an Ottawa street. The other six files are still missing.

Shoplifter forgets son behind

A shoplifter looking to make a quick getaway from a Dutch supermarket after stealing a packet of meat left police a crucial piece of evidence - his 12-year-old son. In his haste, the 45-year-old thief made a solo dash to his car, batting away a supermarket worker who had flung himself on the vehicles' bonnet in a bid to stop the escape.

Police in the southern Dutch town of Kerkrade said they managed to contact the thief via the boy, but he had refused to return and collect his son. The man told officers to get hold of the youngster's mother instead.

The thief later turned himself in.