A 20-year-old female criminology student has been named police chief of a northern Mexican border town plagued by drug violence because no one else wanted the job.

Marisol Valles became director of municipal public security of Guadalupe “since she was the only person to accept the position”, the mayor’s office of the town of some 10,000 people near the US border told local media late Monday.

Ms Valles is studying criminology in Mexico’s most violent city of Ciudad Juarez, some 60 kilometres west of Guadalupe.

Raging turf battles between rival drug gangs have left some 6,500 people in Ciudad Juarez alone in the past three years. (AFP)

India sets up ‘Green court’

India launched a “green” court yesterday to make polluters pay damages as it steps up its policing of the country’s environmental laws.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said India was only the third country in the world after Australia and New Zealand to set up such a tribunal.

“This is the first body of its kind (in India) to apply the polluter pays principle and the principle of sustainable development,” Mr Ramesh told reporters in New Delhi.

“Anybody and everybody can approach the tribunal to claim civil damages arising out of inadequate implementation of environment laws,” said Mr Ramesh, who has been carving out a reputation as a green crusader. (AFP)

Women’s Institute hunts members

The Women’s Institute is in a race against time to track down 4,000 members who sang a version of its signature song Jerusalem so it can be released as a single in time for Christmas.

The five WI members who make up the group The Harmonies have recorded a version of the hymn and want to release it complete with a backing track recorded at the AGM of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes at the Royal Albert Hall in June 2009.

But the list of WI members who were at the conference and sang the hymn has been lost, and due to a clause in the Performers and Related Rights Act 1996, the single cannot be released without their consent, which must be given by October 29 if the song is to be released by Christmas. (PA)

Faberge find

A woman who thought her bejewelled wine taster was worthless may see it sell for thousands of pounds at auction.

The 19th century silver and silver gilt wine taster will go under the hammer at Northamptonshire-based J P Humbert Auctioneers on Friday.

Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert said the item has a catalogue price of £2-3,000 but may sell for much more because of the mark suggesting it is a Faberge. (PA)

Bunnies hop back

Bunny girls will return to London after a 30 year absence when a new Playboy Club opens next year, Hugh Hefner said.

The Park Lane club was the height of decadence when it opened in the swinging 1960s, attracting stars such as Sir Michael Caine, George Best and Jack Nicholson.

But 30 years after closing its doors when gaming licences were revoked, the club is to stage a comeback at a new Mayfair location complete with hostesses wearing the famous bunny ears. (PA)

Holy Bart

The official Vatican newspaper has declared that Homer Simpson and son Bart are Catholics and parents should let their children watch the show,

“Few people know it, and he does everything to hide it. But it’s true: Homer J Simpson is Catholic,” the Osservatore Romano said.

It said a study concluded that the show was “among the few TV programmes for kids in which Christian faith, religion and questions about God are recurrent themes”. (PA)

Convicted of illegal mediation

A court in Zagreb yesterday sentenced a former Croatian Deputy Prime Minister to a year in jail on probation for illegal mediation, national radio reported.

The verdict came just days after Damir Polancec, who was also Economy Minister, was given a 15-month prison term for abuse of power. Mr Polancec, the most senior Croatian official to be convicted of corruption, pleaded guilty of illegal mediation in which reflectors worth 230,000 kunas (€31,000) were placed on a football pitch in his native village of Djelekovec in northern Croatia.

“I was helping my village and people I love and cherish, who I grew up with,” Mr Polancec said after the verdict. (AFP)

Interpreters slag off British MEP

In one of those inimitably embarrassing moments, interpreters who forgot to switch off their mikes in the European Parliament were heard loudly complaining yesterday about a British MEP’s dentures.

“I can’t hear him!”, “He’s got a problem with his denture”, the pair of English-to-French interpreters said. Heard by anyone listening in to the French translation of parliamentary debate yesterday, the incident lasted only a few minutes but remained on the Parliament’s website through the day.

The two interpreters overheard were worrying over 77-year-old Eurosceptic British member of the European Parliament, Roland Clark. (AFP)

Pumpkin power

Just in time for Halloween, a Wisconsin man has set a world record by growing a pumpkin weighing nearly two tons.

Chris Stevens said his secret was a mixture of fish fertiliser, seaweed and hard work. “It’s a requirement to be out there every day,” he said. (PA)

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