DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS

"Love all, trust a few" - but whatever you do, don't believe men. A study reveals the Bard was not far off, though it suggests one sex is rather more reliable than the other.

The average male tells 1,092 lies every year - roughly three a day, according to a survey for the Science Museum.

And in so doing, he is less likely to suffer a guilty conscience than his female counterpart. By contrast, the average woman will come out with 728 porkies per year - fibbing twice a day.

GRIN AND BARE IT

The true meaning of "devilish grimaces" in Caribbean artwork was lost in translation to the first European tourists and was in fact friendly and welcoming, scientists said.

Early visitors to the Caribbean 500 years ago believed that the bared-teeth motif used in local arts and crafts was "an abominable expression, deformed and ferocious". But it is now believed that what Europeans mistook to be frighteningly aggressive was actually depicting a smile.

Bridget Waller, of the University of Portsmouth's Department of Psychology, and Alice Samson, of Leiden University in the Netherlands, have analysed the artwork of the Taino culture of the Greater Antilles in the pre-Columbian Caribbean.

ALL ABOARD THE LOVE TRAIN

A lovestruck web designer's search for a mystery girl he met on a train has captivated more than 13,000 people.

Keir Moffatt, 26, kicked himself for failing to ask out the "just gorgeous" girl he met for mere moments. So he set up a Facebook page to try to track her down.

In just over 10 days, the romantic odyssey had gripped well-wishers from America, Australia and Malaysia.

BANANA BONANZA

Could this be a real banana split?

The unusual discovery left charity workers open-mouthed after they spotted the strangely shaped fruit. Peeling back its skin, they were stunned to find two bananas inside.

The fruit was one of a batch destined for participants in the World Cancer Research Fund's (WCRF) Beat the Banana! fun run in London's Hyde Park.

LATE DELIVERY

More than 20,000 letters - some more than a decade old - have been found in a Philadelphia postman's garage.

Three trucks were needed to remove the letters, which are now being delivered to customers.

Postal officials have not identified the postman. They are still trying to find him so they can question him.

SIN BIN

A hard-line Iranian cleric who said promiscuity and immodest dress cause earthquakes now says God may be holding off on natural disasters in the West in order to let people sin more and consign themselves to hell.

Kazem Sedighi said that some might ask why there are not more earthquakes and storms striking Western nations that are "up to their necks" in immorality.

He said the answer was that God allows some of those who "provoke His wrath" to continue sinning "so that they (eventually) go to the bottom of Hell".

GRAVE ENDING

Four tomb robbers who used explosives and heavy machinery to plunder sites up to almost 2,500 years old have been sentenced to death in China.

They were part of a 27-member gang who robbed a dozen tombs near the capital of the central province of Hunan in 2008 and 2009.

Some of the more than 200 stolen artefacts were under China's highest level of protection. One of the tombs dates from the Warring States period that began in 475 BC.

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