Hundreds of seemingly drunk parrots are falling out of trees and the sky in a northern Australian town, mystifying veterinary surgeons who are struggling to care for them.
The brightly coloured lorikeets are showing classic signs of drunkenness by losing all coordination and passing out, and then cowering in cages as they recover from their "hangovers".
"They definitely seem like they're drunk," said Lisa Hansen, a veterinary surgeon at the Ark Animal Hospital in Palmerston, near Darwin.
"They fall out of trees... They go to jump and they miss the next perch."
Ms Hansen said nobody was sure what was causing the symptoms, although it may be a plant they are eating. Other theories include an outbreak of a mystery virus. (AFP)
Bear necessities
A baby koala and a young girl are helping put Thailand on the road to reconciliation after its recent political violence.
Five-year-old Lapassarada Mung-opas submitted the winning entry in a contest to name the baby bear at the Chiang Mai Zoo.
Her suggestion, Prong-dong - Reconciliation - was picked over 496 other names, including Ice, Sugar and Lotus. (PA)
Anti-tank rockets stolen
Military munitions, including anti-tank rockets, have been stolen from an arms dump in northwest Belgium, the defence ministry said yesterday.
The thieves took M-72 LAW type rockets for hand-held weapons and Thunderflashes, training replacements for grenades, according to the Belga news agency.
The arms had been in a bunker protected by an electronic system and guarded by patrols and security dogs. The stolen rockets are capable of destroying a target from a distance of 200 metres, according to Belgian media. (AFP)
'Too sexy' for the job
A woman bank worker is claiming she was fired from finance giant Citibank for dressing too provocatively.
Debrahlee Lorenzana, 33, told the New York Post she wore ordinary clothes as a business banking officer in a New York branch, but her male bosses and co-workers still found her too alluring. She said, "The way they looked at what I wore was very disappointing."
The single mother was told "she must refrain from wearing certain items of clothing, in particular, turtleneck tops, pencil skirts, fitted business suits, or other properly tailored clothing," the suit says.
"In blatantly discriminatory fashion, plaintiff was advised that as a result of the shape of her figure, such clothes were purportedly 'too distracting' for her male colleagues and supervisors to bear." (PA)
Porn actor turns vicious
A porn actor facing eviction from a Los Angeles production studio killed one colleague and injured two others with a movie prop weapon.
Steven Hill, who had been living at the DVD distribution and production centre for several months, attacked his colleagues after being told he must leave.
Mr Hill went on the rampage with a machete-type prop weapon used in porn films at the building. (PA)
Pub dries up in hot Aussie town
An Australian pub has been drunk almost dry by thirsty customers travelling miles for a beer from one of the country's hottest towns after their local closed.
Brett Powter, who manages the Conglomerate Hotel in Nullagine, said his establishment was down to its last drinks since the closure of the pub in Marble Bar, 120 kilometres away.
Mr Powter said business had been booming in Nullagine, a town of about 100 people in Australia's Outback, since the 117-year-old Ironclad Hotel in Marble Bar closed last month.
Forced to sweat through some of the country's hottest conditions without a cooling ale, residents have driven the 120 kilometres to Nullagine - its nearest neighbour - to slake their thirst, he said. (AFP)
Boys for new Lloyd Webber musical
Andrew Lloyd Webber has a new talent search on his hands - to find young stars to perform in his musical Love Never Dies.
Producers are looking for boys to play Christine's son Gustave in the follow-up to The Phantom Of The Opera.
Open auditions will take place for boys who can play a 10-year-old and who are under five feet tall.
Love Never Dies continues the story of the Phantom, who has moved from his lair in the Paris Opera House to haunt the fairgrounds of New York's Coney Island. (PA)
Embarrassing disease
More than 1,000 volunteers combed isolated parts of western Sierra Leone yesterday looking for sufferers of Elephantiasis, a disease known locally as Big Foot for its embarrassing symptoms.
A five-day campaign funded by Usaid got under way to treat patients for the disease which can lead to massive swelling of the scrotum or lower limbs. The campaign is targeting 65 per cent of the population in western Sierra Leone and aims to "ensure the disease is eradicated in the western area as well as the entire country."
The disease is caused by parasitic worms spread person to person by mosquitoes and treatment involves medication to destroy the worms which cause the swelling.
In 2005 tests conducted by the World Health Organisation showed 23 per cent of the population was infected. (AFP)