World Briefs

Can Superman handle a Soviet machine-gun flanked by Santa Claus with binoculars and rifle, while McDonald’s clown mascot Ronald drinks beer behind their backs?

All is possible in a witty pop art facelift of a symbolic Soviet army monument in central Sofia on Saturday.

The massive bronze relief sculpture honouring the Red Army’s advance on Nazi-allied Bulgaria during World War II has long been a bone of contention between Russophiles and anti-communists in Bulgaria, who want it demolished. But it drew more smiles than scorn last weekend as children and adults flocked to have their pictures taken in front of the flamboyantly repainted figures of the soldiers which included Captain America, Batman’s junior counterpart Robin and his villainous arch-enemy the Joker.

The unknown street artists had also adorned it with a spray paint caption: Abreast With the Times. (AFP)

Niagara rescue

A Canadian helicopter pilot was being hailed yesterday as a hero after mounting a daring weekend rescue, plucking two New York policemen from their stranded boat in swirling waters just above Niagara Falls.

The US officers – who themselves were out on the water overnight to rescue four teenagers trapped on their powerless motorboat – had become disoriented in blinding fog, and dropped anchor within earshot of the crashing water to avoid going over the falls.

Ruedi Hafen, the Canada-based helicopter pilot called on to perform the rescue in US waters, said the boat was some 275 metres from the crest of Horseshoe Falls, and the anchor most likely saved them from being swept over the 53-metre falls to their deaths.

He positioned his helicopter over the boat, and a Niagara Parks Police officer was lowered down a 33-metre cable, rescuing the men one at a time and flying them to shore. (AFP)

Sanitised drunk

A man who drank six bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitiser while being treated in an Australian hospital for alcoholism has sparked calls for the anti-bacterial gels to be better secured.

Doctors said in a letter published in the Medical Journal of Australia that they were stunned to discover the man had downed six 375-millilitre bottles of hand sanitiser, giving him a blood-alcohol concentration more than five times higher than the legal limit for driving in Australia.

Michael Oldmeadow at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne city said the man is lucky to have survived. Dr Oldmeadow and three colleagues said in the letter that at least one US hospital has introduced non-removable dispensers in all its wards. (PA)

Biggest emerald

A massive uncut emerald on exhibit in Colombia’s capital is being touted by its owners as the biggest in the world, officials have said.

The 11,000-karat raw green gem weighs in at 2.27 kilos and is on show in Bogota 12 years after it was mined in Muzo, in the South American nation’s emerald country in Boyaca province.

“It is priceless,” Santiago Soto, spokesman for the Minergemas 2011 gem industry trade fair under way in Bogota, said of the stone owned by the firm Coexminas.

No more than 15 people at a time are allowed to view the stone, with five guards looking on.

Colombia produces 55 per cent of the world’s emeralds, exporting them for about $200 million a year. (AFP)

Chilly dip

Some 400 people stripped naked and plunged into the sea in an attempt to break the world record for the biggest ever skinny dip.

Swimmers came from all over the country to brave the chill waters of the Gower Peninsula in Wales.

The existing record is believed to be 250 naked bathers in one location, and organisers plan to submit their event to Guinness World Records in a bid to steal the title. The stunt was organised to raise money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity and the National Trust. (PA)