An eccentric British millionaire has put his entire life up for sale on the internet - including his title of Lord of the Manor of Warleigh - in the hope of converting his assets into cash.
David Piper, a hotelier who made headlines six years ago after advertising for a wife to become his "lady of the manor", wants to sell his west of England existence on the auction site eBay and move to London to be closer to his children.
He is selling two hotels, two Bentleys, a collection of paintings and his title of Lord of the Manor - which he bought along with a large estate for £1 million.
"This sale is brought about as the present lord has been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer," the advertisement for the sale explains. "For sale as a whole or in part... Can include David, the existing eccentric lord of the manor, physically as well to a suitable purchaser."
More than 100 bids have been received so far, with the current offer standing at £1.3 million. Bidding closes on August 11.
Rome shelves ban on scavenging
Rome's right-wing mayor has put on hold a new law banning poor people from scavenging in rubbish bins, after charities said it would have to be accompanied by more help for the destitute.
With Rome's Gianni Alemanno and other mayors being given new powers to police Italy's towns and cities by Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government, new laws against crime, begging and even picnicking in public are coming thick and fast.
Mr Alemanno proposed on Wednesday a by-law against people ransacking rubbish bins for food, clothes and things to sell saying it "made a mess because of the rubbish tipped all over the streets".
The mainly Roman Catholic charities who feed the poor in the capital protested immediately. "I understand the very real concern about protecting health and hygiene, but those who are ransacking the bins need to have a chance to live," said Don Ciotti of the charity Abele.
Mr Alemanno promised to work with charities "to check that these measures don't have negative social consequences".
Toilet keepers grin and bear it
Young greeters who keep the toilets spick and span at the Olympic Games smile unfailingly at their clientele on the way in and on the way out, though their never-ending task has its dark side.
"These are the tongs I have to remove used toilet paper," said one male worker, pointing to a simple contraption made of two bits of split bamboo.
A sign in Chinese and English on the back of the toilet doors at Beijing's main Olympic media centre urges users not to flush away soiled toilet-paper as they would usually do, but to place it the waste-baskets provided.
It is the job of the greeter-cleaners to empty these baskets when full and, if necessary, to remove any rogue paper from the toilet bowls.
Beijing police ask about shoe size
Living in Beijing? The government wants to know your shoe size, blood group, political affiliation and where you get your money from, according to police in at least one corner of the security-obsessed Olympic host city.
Questionnaires handed to a businessman in Beijing's east also demanded full technical details of the company computer network and a hand-drawn map of internet connections.
Beijing has ramped up security ahead of the Games, with missile launchers guarding the main venues and a special 100,000-strong security force on the alert for terrorists.
Residents of the capital have got used to over-zealous police intruding into their lives. Visitors, even those who stay only one night, are expected to register at the local police station. Police sometimes call to ask why if they do not.
Compounds in the city centre have demanded even long-term residents carry special identity cards, while one restaurant owner said his staff had been warned by police not to speak to foreign customers about anything but their orders.
Waterboarding at NY amusement park
A man with a black hood pours water on the face of a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit strapped to a table: no, it's not the Guantanamo Bay naval base, but New York's Coney Island amusement park.
The scene using robotic dolls is an installation built by artist Steve Powers to criticise waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique the US has admitted using on terrorism suspects, but that rights group say is torture. Waterboard Thrill Ride beckons a sign along with cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants who appears tied down and exclaiming: "It don't Gitmo better!"
The public can peek through window bars and feed a dollar into the slot to bring the robotic dolls into action, one more attraction in the beachfront amusement park in the New York neighbourhood of Brooklyn.
"Anyone can see this is painful from 50 feet away," said Mr Powers, who had previously been painting signs and storefronts in the area. "I wanted people to understand the psychological ramifications of this."
French region bans oyster sales
Authorities in southwestern France have banned the harvest and sale of oysters from one of the country's most famous shellfish producing regions following a series of public health scares.
The ban on oysters from the Bay of Arcachon, on the Atlantic coast, comes after tests revealed safety concerns over oysters and mussels from the region.
It comes at the height of the oyster breeding season and coincides with an epidemic of a herpes virus that has been killing unusually large numbers of young shellfish in other regions, although not Arcachon.
The ban cannot be lifted until two successive tests show the situation has returned to normal. The next test is scheduled on August 14.