Meerkats at a leading safari park have been given an early Easter treat - of ostrich eggs filled with meal worms.

The brightly coloured eggs were met with delight from the mischievous mammals at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling who wasted no time in cracking open their gifts.

Gary Gilmour, park manager, said: “It was a just wee bit of a treat for them. We made up some eggs that we had round about the park and basically drilled some holes in them and filled them with tasty morsels such as meal worms.

“It was a bit of Easter enrichment for them so we can keep them busy and active and it was a bit of fun for the staff.

The park has eight Slender-tailed meerkats which originate from southern Africa. (PA)

Kung fu training

A Hong Kong airline is making all its cabin crew take kung fu lessons to help them to deal with drunk and unruly passengers.

Hong Kong Airlines said all staff had been invited to undergo training in wing chun – a form of kung fu used in close-range combat – but it was only compulsory for cabin crew, the Sunday Morning Post reported.

The airline had around three incidents involving disruptivepassengers every week, said Eva Chan, deputy general manager of corporate communication. (AFP)

Clinton technique

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered her own take during a Tokyo visit yesterday on how to treat Japan’s imperial family – with a peck on the cheek.

Mrs Clinton, on a brief visit to disaster-hit Japan to show US solidarity, took the unusual step of kissing Empress Michiko on the cheek. She shook hands with Emperor Akihito, and was not seen bowing.

President Barack Obama’s bow before the emperor during a 2009 visit enraged his conservative critics, who said the US leader should stand tall, although officials insisted that bowing was customary. (AFP)

Late post

A postcard lost by a Great War soldier being treated in a village hall hospital 96 years ago has been returned to relatives.

Carpenters Alan Payne and Jason Grant found Private Edward Wolstencroft’s card in December while fixing floorboards in the village hall at Shepreth, Cambridgeshire. Local amateur genealogist Chris East tracked down Pte Wolstencroft’s nephew, Paul Wolstencroft who is in his 60s and lives in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire.

Villager Eve Hardman, 82, whose grandmother Flora Pearce was a nurse at the hospital, presented the card to Mr Wolstencroft. (PA)

Blue snub

English Heritage has ruled that Lionel Logue, who helped cure King George VI of his stammer and inspired an Oscar-winning film, was not worthy of a blue plaque celebrating his achievements.

The decision to turn down the bid to commemorate the Australian speech therapist in his adopted city of London was made by the organisation’s blue plaque panel.

No reason was given for the decision, but the organisation puts down strict rules on who is eligible. (PA)

Getting angry

After road rage and trolley rage, a survey claims to have identified a new type of fury apparently sweeping the country – changing room rage.

Nearly three-quarters of women are afflicted by the condition, which is said to manifest itself in feelings of anger, disappointment and bouts of bad temper, according to the study of more than 1,200 women in the UK. (PA)

Belly dance blunder

A New York City woman who was getting $850 (£520) a month in support payments because she was supposedly disabled and unable to work had her payments slashed after her ex-husband spotted online photos of her belly dancing.

Brian McGurk went to court after discovering a blog that showed his 43-year-old ex-wife dancing at a gallery.

In other internet postings, she wrote about dancing vigorously for several hours every day.

Dorothy McGurk told the court that the dancing was physical for injuries she suffered in a car accident in the mid-1990s. A judge didn’t buy it - and reduced her payments to $400 (£245) per month.

The judge also ordered her to pay her ex-husband’s legal fees and 60 per cent from the sale of their home. (PA)

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