World Briefs

A leading hotel chain is to trial a “snore absorption” room, including soundproofing and a specially-designed pillow to help guests sleep.

Crowne Plaza will test the idea at one of its hotels in London this week, using different forms of technology and new ideas. The firm said walls will be soundproofed, using eggbox-style foam to reduce noise reverberating in the room, while a sound-absorbing headboard will be installed to muffle any echo from snores.

An anti-snoring pillow will be placed on the bed, as well as a device which aims to make people sleep on their sides, as lying flat on your back often produces snoring.

The room is on trial at Crowne Plaza London for one week from today, as well as in nine hotels across Europe and the Middle East.

The Drummer

Queen drummer Roger Taylor beat a drum of a different kind – one attached to a controversial 15-foot sculpture of a naked man.

The multi-million-selling rock star was back in Truro, Cornwall, where he grew up, on Saturday to unveil a £95,000 statue, The Drummer.

Designed to symbolise Cornish cultural identity, it caused a furore even before it was unveiled because of its anatomically accurate depiction of a naked male drummer cast in bronze made from tin and copper mined in Cornwall. It led Mr Taylor to joke: “No anatomical part of it was modelled on me.”

A crowd of 3,000, including 100 marching drummers who beat out a rhythm , were in Lemon Quay to see it unveiled and meet the rock legend.

Zombies Ahead

Drivers in Kentucky have been spooked by an unusual road sign.

Instead of the usual message about future road work, the electronic sign on Interstate 71-75 said: “Nightly lane closures, zombies ahead.” Transportation Cabinet spokeswoman Nancy Wood said they were not amused by the prank.

Batphone

Scientists have created a “batphone” by designing a smartphone app to help people capture the ultrasonic calls of bats in their area, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has said.

The iBats app for iPhones and Android phones aims to make it easier to monitor local bat species, by replacing three pieces of recording kit with just a phone and an ultrasonic microphone.

Researchers say it will help a network of more than 700 volunteer bat-trackers around the world who are part of a monitoring programme called iBats, in their efforts to record bat calls in the UK, Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Russia and Japan. The app can record the calls of more than 900 species of bat which use echolocation to find food and to navigate.

Craig ties knot

Film stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz have tied the knot.

Robin Baun of Slate PR, which represents the James Bond actor, said the pair had got married, but did not offer any details.

The British couple, who will play husband and wife in upcoming movie Dream House, have been quietly dating in real life. According to reports, they tied the knot last Wednesday in New York, with only Mr Craig’s teenage daughter Ella, Ms Weisz’s five-year-old son Henry and two family friends as guests.

Mr Craig, 43, rose to international stardom in 2006 when he became the sixth actor to play Bond in the movie franchise. His other film credits include Elizabeth and Layer Cake.

Ms Weisz, 41, has appeared in movies including The Mummy and About A Boy. Her role in 2005 film The Constant Gardener earned her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Green Popemobile

An animal rights group is urging Pope Benedict XVI to “truly go green” and insist that the next Popemobile is made without leather.

Peta says it has written to the Pope following the Vatican’s confirmation that Mercedes-Benz is making a study of a hybrid, energy-saving Popemobile to replace the current Mercedes used when the Pope travels abroad.

Peta spokesman Ashley Gonzalez says leather production is not only “toxic to the environment, it’s also hell for cows”. Pope Benedict has made conserving resources an important concern of his papacy.

Don’t touch!

A man who touched an endangered Hawaiian monk seal has had a $100 penalty imposed by a magistrate in Honolulu.

Cameron Cayaban, 19, pleaded guilty to harassing, harming or pursuing an endangered species. He was charged with slapping the seal at Kalaeloa’s White Plains Beach.

His lawyer says Cayaban was overcome when he saw the seal, ran up to the endangered animal and touched it.