World Briefs

Newlyweds are spending over a third more for their honeymoons than five years ago, according to a survey.

Couples are planning to spend an average of £4,063 on a honeymoon this year compared with £2,963 in 2006, the poll by Hotels.com found.

The amount forked out for post-wedding trips in 1998 was £1,522 on average.

Of those honeymooning abroad this year, the Maldives is one of the top spots, with the Caribbean and the Seychelles also popular. Fewer than one per of couples plan to honeymoon in the UK, with the most popular spots being the Isle of Wight, the Scottish lochs and Edinburgh.

Hotels.com communications director, Alison Couper, said: “Couples are prepared to pay for the privilege, with some now even choosing for their wedding guests to contribute to the honeymoon instead of a traditional gift list.” (PA)

Stormwater drain

A 12-year-old Australian boy was dragged some 80 metres underground after falling into a storm-water drain.

Daniel Soumastre-Sepulveda was standing over the flooded drain with a friend, throwing sticks and leaves into the surging water to see how fast they would go, when he suddenly lost his footing and slipped in.

“The tunnel was pitch black. I was thinking I was going to fall off the edge into a giant pool and drown, then I saw a light and was pushed out,” he told the Newcastle Herald.

The schoolboy was dragged about 80 metres underground before resurfacing at the rear of a Chinese restaurant near his home in Cardiff, in the Newcastle region north of Sydney. However, he found himself stuck due to the power of the surging water and was unable to pull himself out without help. After yelling for help he was rescued by a fire crew and suffered only minor injuries. (AFP)

Wedding tradition

A teenage girl whose forceful bundling into a BMW in France sparked a nationwide appeal for witnesses was the victim of a traditional Chechen pre-marriage kidnapping, it emerged.

Witnesses had told how three people in a BMW had snatched the previously unidentified girl, aged 16 or 17, as she left a park with a companion who appeared to be involved in the abduction. The manner of her disappearance led to a nationwide appeal for witnesses in a bid to find the girl. Police received calls from as far afield as Belgium and Switzerland from people who thought they might have seen her. An umbrella she left at the scene of the “crime” was sent to a laboratory for analysis.

Police eventually managed to identify the girl and trace her family to the southwestern Haute-Garonne region, where they found her unharmed. Her family explained that she had simply fallen victim to the Chechen tradition whereby the groom’s family kidnaps the bride-to-be ahead of the wedding. (AFP)

‘Star’ Ferrari sold

A Ferrari previously owned by music legend Eric Clapton and radio presenter Chris Evans has fetched £66,500 at auction.

The rare 2003 Ferrari 575 Maranello, which has only covered 10,000 miles, was snapped up by a private buyer at a sale at Silverstone, Northamptonshire.

Described by Silverstone Auctions as a desirable car in its own right, the yellow Maranello was bought new by Mr Clapton, who signed its service book, and was later sold to Mr Evans. (PA)

Lion heart

A lion was reunited with his longtime partner on Friday at a Brasilia zoo after becoming so depressed by their separation that he stopped eating, Brazilian media reported.

Dengo the lion was sedated and his journey from Niteroi’s ZooNit to a facility in Brasilia began with a herculean effort by eight men to load him out of his cage. He travelled to the Brazilian capital in an Air Force plane.

The 11-year-old beast and Elza the lioness, 10, shared a cage at the zoo in Niteroi for eight years before being separated. After Elza was transferred, Dengo spent most of his days lying down and lost his appetite.

Dengo will now share an open space with Elza, several other lions and Bengal tigers, officials said. (AFP)

Unusual donation

Staff at Goodwill, an American charity, were shocked by what they found among recent donations dropped off at one of their stores.

Among a variety of things the charity would be able to put to good use was a small amount of marijuana.

Police in Lawrence, Kansas, said the donation was probably accidental and they have destroyed the drugs. (PA)