World Briefs

Her name is more associated with gossip magazines than high art, but now the life of Playboy centrefold Anna Nicole Smith is to be turned into an opera.

The production - which has been co-written by one of the creators of Jerry Springer: The Opera - will be staged at one of the UK's most venerable institutions, the Royal Opera House.

The actress died in 2007 at the age of 39 after an apparent accidental overdose of prescription drugs. (PA)

Ad rap

An advert for a vintage clothes shop showing an elderly woman crossing a road accompanied by the slogan "silk dress coming soon" escaped censure by the regulator.

A reader complained the advert was offensive because it implied the woman would not be alive for much longer.

Shock and Soul Vintage Clothing said the ad was intended to be humorous and to break down any reservations customers might have had about wearing vintage clothes. (PA)

Startling mystery

Mystery surrounds the death of 75 starlings after they crashed landed on a driveway in Somerset.

RSPCA animal welfare officer Alison Sparkes was alerted to the unusual incident by the police and went to help. She said: "It was a remarkable sight and I've never seen anything like it before."

There is no evidence that the birds had been poisoned or were ill before they crashed into the ground. (PA)

'Dead' baby elephant calf born alive

An elephant gave birth to a calf at Sydney's main zoo yesterday, surprising vets and keepers who two days earlier declared the baby had died in the womb.

The Asian elephant mother delivered the male baby early yesterday in what Taronga Park Zoo officials said was "unbelieveable good fortune".

Despite an expert team of vets who had prepared for every eventuality, the calf had not survived after six days of labour on Monday, and ultrasounds found there was no chance of a successful birth.

Officials said they now believe the calf was in a coma throughout the labour. They said the calf had since taken its first steps, but it was too early to know if it would survive. (Reuters)

Village invaded by elephants

Wild elephants rampaged through a southern village in Angola last weekend, destroying farms and dozens of houses and prompting most of its 4,000 residents to flee to neighboring Namibia, a local official said.

No one was killed in what the Mucusso village's local administrator said was "a fight between man and beast", just eight years after Angola's three-decade long civil war almost wiped out all of the African nation's wildlife.

The wild elephants had come from Botswana, one of the world's premier wildlife viewing destinations, and urged the Angolan government to contain animals returning to the war-torn nation.

The civil war's impact on Angola's elephant population was so devastating that it now relies on South Africa to restock its elephant population in some of its once-thriving national parks. (Reuters)

Coke and pineapple

Customs officers found half a ton of cocaine hidden inside plastic pineapples stored among a shipment of the real fruit in the Netherlands.

They said the shipment had a street value of £25 million.

Although Dutch police tolerate soft drug use, they crack down on trafficking in hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. (PA)

Holy roller

A man who claims marijuana is a sacrament in his religion has been convicted of drug charges.

Trevor Douglas, from Colorado, said he will appeal after being found guilty of possessing the drug.

He argued he should not be charged because marijuana serves the same role in his religion, the THC Ministry, as communion wine in Christianity. (PA)

Seal meat

Lawmakers, a beauty queen and guests crammed into Canada's parliamentary restaurant to dine on seal meat yesterday to show solidarity with hunters fighting a European ban on seal products.

It was standing room only for much of the luncheon.

Outside Parliament, meanwhile, a handful of protesters railed against the annual seal hunt, which begins again at the end of the month, accusing Canada of propping up "an embarrassingly cruel slaughter". (AFP)