World Briefs

An Irish software developer believes he has solved James Joyce’s notorious near century-old riddle – can you cross Dublin without passing a pub?

Rory McCann, 27, claims he has settled decades of debate about the puzzle in Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses with a simple equation proving it can, indeed, be done.

Using online maps, the Dubliner worked out an algorithm – a computer equation – which found how to criss-cross the capital, from north to south and east to west, away from the temptation of any pub. The computer programmer accepts arguments will continue to rage, as to be expected with the apparent resolution of a brain-twister that has baffled brains since the publication of Ulysses in 1922.

Particularly likely to come under attack from pedantic Joyce fans is his decision to ignore hotels and restaurants which serve drinks and may even have their own bar inside. (PA)

‘Steals’ house

Canadian police yesterday charged a man in central Ontario province with stealing a house.

The owner arrived home to find his 10-year-old mobile home in the Ontario community of Dundalk, northwest of Toronto, was missing. He alerted police who located the “45-foot, double-wide” prefabricated building worth an estimated CAN$30,000 on a rural property “a relatively short distance from where it was taken”.

A 43-year-old man was charged with theft and mischief, and using forged documents to try to convince police that he owned the building.

Authorities could not explain how the home was stolen. (AFP)

Stars at sea

Ships’ passenger lists, including details of sea journeys made by stars including Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn, have gone online.

The details, which also show ocean voyages taken by Psycho director Alfred Hitchcock and a young Olivia Newton-John, are available on the family history website www.genesreunited.co.uk.

The lists, covering 24 million passengers, include people on board ships departing British ports for long-distance voyages from 1890 to 1960. (PA)

Last laugh

A circus clown who had to prove he could read and write before taking his seat in Brazil’s Congress wants to encourage illiterate adults to learn.

Francisco Silva’s first legislative proposal calls for a one-time payment of around £200 to anyone who passes a literacy course.

Mr Silva won more votes than any other candidate in Brazil’s October elections but critics suggested he could not read or write and he had to prove to a judge he met the requirements. (PA)

‘Longest yo-yo’ contest

There could only be one winner – one yo-yo to rule them all – but this was no ordinary yo-yo competition, with each one dangling from a 20-metre rope, suspended on a crane.

The contest yesterday, touted as featuring the world’s longest yo-yos, was conceived as an unusual way to test the physics skills and sheer ingenuity of students at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. On a lawn at the centre of the campus, in the northern coastal city, a towering yellow crane was set up, to give each of the 14 teams a chance to try their luck.The oversized playthings were hoisted skyward in a cage, winched up carefully before the cage trapdoors opened and the makeshift yo-yos unfurled their way towards the ground below.

In the end, Eyal Moshe Cohen won the day, with his all-steel yo-yo netting him and his teammates the top prize. (AFP)