World Briefs

A crib figurine showing French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his pregnant wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is being offered for sale at a traditional crib shop in Naples.

Mr Sarkozy’s father told the German Bild newspaper two weeks ago that the wife of the French President is expecting a child before it was officially announced.

Mrs Bruni-Sarkozi was showing off her bump to other wives at the G8 summit last month. (AFP)

Lucky escape

A Brazilian barman was saved by his false teeth when he was shot.

Zacarias Pacheco de Moraes, 81, was shot while working at the bar he owns in Alta Floresta, a small city in the west of Brazil.

But the bullet, which surgeons think was heading for his brain, deflected off his dentures and lodged in his throat, saving his life. (PA)

City cheetah

A cheetah has been caught after being spotted prowling near villas in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

The big cat is estimated to be around seven months old and is thought to have escaped after being kept as a pet.

It was found in the Karama district with an injured left paw and a broken metal chain around its neck. (PA)

Monkey stoned

Villagers in South Africa have stoned a monkey to death because they claimed it was linked to witchcraft.

Rumours spread through Kagiso, west of Johannesburg, that the vervet monkey could talk, and it was caught, put in a bucket, doused with petrol and set on fire, according to witnesses.

Cora Bailey, manager of Community Led Animal Welfare (Claw) in South Africa, said there is a “dreadful superstition” about monkeys and witchcraft in some communities, fuelled by ignorance that the animals can become separated from their troops or displaced from their natural habitats. (PA)

Wedding bus plunge

At least 28 members of a wedding party were killed in India’s northeastern state of Assam when their bus plunged into a gorge after hitting a wooden bridge, officials said yesterday.

Among the dead were the groom and his relatives, who were travelling to the bride’s house to attend wedding rituals. Local people rushed to the scene and tried to save passengers trapped inside the vehicle, TV channels reported.

The accident took place on Monday night in Kamrup district, 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Assam’s main city of Guwahati. About 40 people were thought to be on the crowded bus, with several taken to hospital with serious injuries. (AFP)

Sexy MP vote

A new website that asks users to rank MPs in order of sexiness is causing a stir in Westminster.

Visitors to sexymp.co.uk are shown photos of two MPs and asked to click on the one they would rather sleep with, with the results creating a list of the most fanciable male and female parliamentarians.

The website, the brainchild of Francis Boulle of E4 reality show Made in Chelsea, currently ranks Conservative Joseph Johnson and Labour’s Luciana Berger as the sexiest male and female. (PA)

Volcanic fragrance

A designer who shot to fame with a line of perfume inspired by last year’s flight-halting Eyjafjoell volcano said yesterday she would launch a new fragrance drawn from last week’s eruption on Iceland.

After launching EFJ Eyjafjallajoekull, a women’s perfume made from melt water from the glacier sitting on top of the Eyjafjoell volcano that erupted in April last year, Sigrun Lilja Gudjonsdottir said she would soon launch the VJK Vatnajoekull, a fragrance for men named after the glacier that straddles Grimsvoetn.

“When the eruption started (on May 21), my heart really started to beat real fast,” Ms Gudjonsdottir told AFP, adding that she had quickly decided to rethink and rebrand a perfume already several months in the works. (AFP)

Lollipops for fags

Russian police yesterday coaxed hardened smokers to kick the habit by offering lollipops in exchange for cigarettes at Moscow rail stations to mark World No Tobacco Day.

Russia has one of the highest smoking rates among developed nations, with the growing numbers of women smoking raising particular concern.

Teams of three police – one carrying a bucket of water to snuff out cigarettes, another with a box of lollipops and a third carrying leaflets about the dangers of smoking – patrolled the Yaroslavl mainline station in search of smokers.

Surprised by policemen brandishing lollipops in front of television cameras, most smokers meekly threw their cigarettes into the buckets of water and studied the anti-smoking pamphlets. (AFP)