World Briefs

A statue of Barack Obama that was torn down from a public park in Indonesia will be relocated to the US President's former school in Jakarta.

Mr Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta was initially welcomed by locals almost as a long-lost son but his appeal has waned in recent months. A statue of the President as a 10-year-old boy was installed in central Jakarta's Menteng Park in December 2009 but was recently removed by authorities after a campaign by locals, who argued that Mr Obama has done little to deserve the tribute.

Akhmad Solikhin, deputy headmaster of Mr Obama's former primary school, said the statue would be installed on the school grounds.

"It is better if the statue can be placed here, so it will be an inspiration and motivation for students to reach their dreams, like Obama. We will place it in the front yard," he said. (Reuters)

Catty hotels

London hotels are fairly catty about accepting pets, according to a new survey.

Only 10 per cent of hotels in the UK capital are happy to play host to animals, the poll by travel company Expedia.co.uk found.

In contrast, 42 per cent of Birmingham hotels accept pets, with the West Midlands city also high on the list of hotels providing complimentary breakfasts.

The survey also found that Manchester hotels (24 per cent) have the most swimming pools and London and Brighton ones the least (8 per cent) while Newcastle-upon-Tyne hotels have the least number of in-room hairdryers (63 per cent) while Bristol hotels have the most (77 per cent);

Guests are least likely to get complimentary breakfast at Newcastle hotels (5 per cent) and most likely to get it in Glasgow establishments (18 per cent). (PA)

Facebook hit by server fault

Facebook users in Britain and other countries found themselves shut out of the social network site because of a server problem.

Users in the UK, US, Thailand and Mexico and other nations began reporting problems last Saturday. Some could not log in and the site was unusually slow and glitchy for others.

Many used Twitter to complain.

Facebook spokesman Matt Hicks said it was a "small percentage of users" who had problems accessing Facebook, their friends' profiles or specific site features because of an isolated server problem.

Late on Saturday, Facebook said it had restored access to the users. Facebook, which has more than 400 million users, has generally avoided such hiccups, but Twitter has had bigger problems. (PA)

Unidentified insults

The Ministry of Defence had to blank out "uncomplimentary comments" made by officials about members of the public before publishing its UFO files, a newly released document shows.

Following a deluge of requests under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000, the MoD agreed to disclose its full archive of reported sightings of unexplained sights in the skies.

But a previously secret memo reveals that the files had to be edited for references to military technology, relations with other countries and insulting remarks about the public written by defence officials and police. (PA)

Early bird looks for mate

The cold winter may have delayed the arrival of spring - but that has not stopped some confused early birds singing for a mate well before they normally would.

Birdwatchers at London Wetland Centre heard the first bittern "booming" at the site in early January.

Males of the rare species usually make their distinctive mating call from April onwards in a bid to attract a mate.

The west London centre has spotted five of the secretive birds this winter, but it is the first record of a male - one of around 75 breeding males across the UK - booming at the site.

The bittern is not the only bird which started calling early for a mate, with a willow warbler also heard singing on the edge of the wetland centre.

Willow warblers migrate to the UK for the summer from West Africa and staff said the bird's arrival here was much earlier than expected. (PA)