World Briefs

This Canadian small town has been obsessed about all things "Star Trek" for as long as anyone here can remember, but denizens always felt something - or someone - was missing. Until Friday.

Leonard Nimoy, who will forever be Mr Spock from the 1960s TV series, finally fulfilled the dreams of the farming community that shares the name of the character's home planet by paying a visit. His remarks to Vulcanites, many decked out in their homemade "Star Trek" uniforms, were, well, logical.

"I have been a Vulcan for 44 years - I figured it was time I came home," the 79-year-old actor said to wild cheers at a ceremony at the centre of the town.

In Vulcan, a community of 2,000 people about 100 kilometres southeast of Calgary, there is a model of the USS Enterprise space ship and pictures of Spock as well as space scenes adorn buildings downtown. (Reuters)

Smart plastic wrappers

Smart plastic wrappers could in future let shoppers know when fruit and veg is ripe and fresh enough to buy.

Scientists are developing hi-tech packaging capable of testing the quality of groceries.

EU-funded Swiss researchers led by Dr Danick Briand, from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne are heading the FlexSmell project. They will be working with British colleagues from Manchester and Sheffield universities. (PA)

Post-it, the little square, turns 30

VHS tapes and walkmans may have been firmly cast into oblivion but another 1980s invention, the Post-it Note, is marking its 30th anniversary this month as popular as ever.

The little yellow square of paper that changed lives was actually the product of an engineering mistake by 3M scientists who accidentally stumbled upon an adhesive like none other that could stick and be repositioned on just about any surface.

It has remained among the top five best-selling office supplies in the US each year ever since.

The three-by-three-inch (7.6-by-7.6-centimetre) pad has also evolved over time and now comes in eight sizes, 25 shapes and 62 colours, including the original Canary Yellow, sold in 150 countries. (AFP)

Clues from graffiti

British troops in Iraq were ordered to photograph graffiti left by locals in case it contained important military intelligence.

US Marines asked for the Arabic scrawls that appeared on walls after the 2003 invasion to be translated and analysed.

They felt the graffiti might give them an insight into how Iraqis felt about the occupying forces, a previously classified document reveals. (PA)

'Gay dog' refused entry

An Australian restaurant that refused a blind man entry because a waiter thought his seeing-eye dog was "gay" has been ordered to apologise and pay compensation.

Ian Jolly was told he could not take guide dog Nudge into Adelaide's Thai Spice last May because a member of staff objected.

The restaurant's owners said a misunderstanding had arisen between Jolly's female companion and a waiter who understood the woman "to be saying she wanted to bring a gay dog into the restaurant".

"The staff genuinely believed that Nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been desexed to become a gay dog," the owners said in a statement to South Australia's Equal Opportunity Tribunal. The tribunal ordered the restaurant to pay Jolly US$1,400 (€1,046) and offer him a written apology for discriminating against him on the grounds of disability. (AFP)

Two killed in hot air balloon crash

A hot air balloon with 14 people aboard crashed in a desert area east of Abu Dhabi yesterday, killing a French person and an Indian national.

Several other people were injured, one seriously, in the early morning crash near Sweihan, some 80 kilometres east of the UAE capital.

Dubai-based Balloon Adventures Emirates (BAE) said, "The pilot and 13 passengers took off early on Sunday morning in light winds, however soon after take-off the wind picked up significantly and the pilot decided to make an emergency landing".

Balloon Adventures said it has been operating in the UAE for "the past five years with no previous accidents."

Balloon expeditions are common in the UAE which in recent years has become a tourist destination. (AFP)