World briefs

A World War II veteran’s dying wish to return a Japanese General’s ceremonial sword to his family has been fulfilled as a gesture of friendship and forgiveness.

Lieutenant Colonel William Weightman was handed the 400-year-old weapon by Major General Shozaburo Iino when the Durham Light Infantryman took the surrender in Sumatra on December 15, 1945.

Lt Col Weightman kept the sword for more than 60 years but as he lay dying of cancer at his home in Richmond, North Yorkshire, in January 2009, he passed it on to his friend Michael Daly, the bursar of the Teikyo University of Japan in Durham.

Mr Daly said: “It was quite unusual for a Japanese officer to hand over a sword. Historically, they were often used by their owners to commit Hara-kari.”

The weapon, believed to have been forged around 1624, will be returned to Japan after lengthy inquiries to trace the General’s family. The Japanese General’s 91-year-old daughter Mitsu Yamanaka and her son Jun in Tokyo were said to be delighted at the gesture. (PA)

Dial out

A Florida jail inmate used a glitch in its phone system to pay for a bond to get himself out.

The system charges inmate accounts for calls but refunds the money if the call does not go through. But the system was reimbursing inmates twice for incomplete calls.

Larry Stone repeatedly made calls and hung up until he had more than 1,250 dollars (£762) – enough to bond out of jail.

Mr Stone, who had been arrested in April on property-crime charges, was rearrested within hours. (PA)

Polystyrene UFO

An unidentified flying object photographed high in the Belgian sky that puzzled even Nasa scientists turns out to have been a fake made out of foam, the man behind the hoax has said.

Though scientists pored over the picture of a triangular-shaped flying saucer with four lights, allegedly photographed in April 1990 by a young worker, the mystery remained intact until the man’s revelation on the RTL-TVI network.

Made of polystyrene in a matter of hours and photographed that night, the picture was released after several sightings of UFOs over Belgium in 1989 and 1990.Then aged 18, the man identified only as Patrick said he andafew friends “made it, painted it, hung it up and then photographed it”. (AFP)

Resolute survivors

Two goldfish survived 134 days after a devastating earthquake hit New Zealand without any pet food or electricity to power their tank filter.

The goldfish, named Shaggy and Daphne after characters in the TV show Scooby Doo, were in a 26-gallon tank in the reception area at a Christchurch office when the quake struck, killing 181 people.

It was only this month that workers were allowed back into the building and found the fish alive. (PA)

Nappy rash

Workers at a closure-threatened French nappy factory have sent a box of nappies to first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in a plea to help them save their jobs.

Employees at the Ontex factory in Villefranche-sur-Saone sent 187 nappies to the pregnant supermodel wife of president Nicolas Sarkozy – one for each worker and a none-too-subtle message that, while the nappies might be disposable, their jobs were not.

“We stuck a bright yellow sticker on the box that said: ‘Made in France by the 187 workers of Ontex’ and we sent it to Fort Bregancon” – the mansion on the Riviera where Bruni-Sarkozy is spending the summer holiday – union leader Bernard Leblond said. (PA)

Science fiction

Dr Who has been beaten to the top spot in a poll of sci-fi fans to find their favourite hero by the star of a show that was cancelled after one series.

The poll picked Captain Mal Reynolds, star of cult American television series Firefly, as the ultimate sci-fi hero beating the timelord, now in his 11th incarnation, into second place.

Torchwood’s Captain Jack Harkness was third, followed by vampire slayer Buffy and her co-star Spike. The poll of 10,000 people was commissioned by SFX magazine. (PA)

Bad writing

A sentence in which tiny birds and the English language are both slaughtered has taken top honours in an annual bad writing contest.

Sue Fondrie won the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest in the US for the worst possible opening sentence to imaginary novels.

She wrote: “Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories.” (PA)

Happy families

A US mother and daughter have three big lottery wins in the last 20 years between them.

Kimberly McCauley won $100,000 this month playing a new instant-scratch card game.

In 2007, her mother, Amy McCauley won more than $160,000.

But the family’s big win came in 1991, when Amy won $15.5 million in the New York Lotto. (PA)