The Duchess of Cornwall became a Guerilla gardener when she joined a movement that is transforming neglected public spaces into green oases.

Members of the monarchy do not usually get involved in clandestine activities but armed with a pair of shears Camilla embraced the cause and harvested lavender flowers from a roundabout in the capital.

Richard Reynolds, one of the leading members of the Guerilla gardening movement, took the royal on a tour of the borough of Southwark where the Duchess chopped away at the lavender growing close to Waterloo station and joked with the photographers and journalists watching “Anyone need a haircut?”. (PA)

Ear ear

A dog called Harbour has been recognised as having the longest ears in the canine world.

They ensured the black-and-tan coonhound from Boulder, Colorado, got the 2012 Guinness World Records title.

His left ear is 12.25 inches long and his right is 13.5 inches long. (PA)

Scaling the Kremlin

A drunk Russian man was detained by police in Moscow on Monday as he tried to scale the walls of the Kremlin during city day celebrations, a police spokeswoman told AFP.

The man was detained at around 1 a.m. in the Alexandrovsky Sad park around the Kremlin after he was spotted trying to climb the walls of the tightly guarded fortress, which houses the offices of the Russian President.

The unnamed man, 22, was charged with petty hooliganism and could be fined or face up to 15 days behind bars if convicted, Moscow police press officer Yelena Perfilova said.

The man, who was visiting from the central Russian town of Rtishchevo, was detained “in a state of alcoholic intoxication”, a police source told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The Kremlin is circled by a 2.2 kilometre-long wall that in places reaches a height of 19 metres and is guarded by highly trained security officers from the Federal Guard Service. (AFP)

Stowaway mouse

Flight attendants spotted a mouse in the pantry of a Boeing 757, prompting Nepal Airlines to cancel a Bangkok-bound flight, evacuate passengers and tow the jet to a hangar to hunt for it.

The airline said the mouse is believed to have boarded the plane at Katmandu airport through a food catering truck. The plane will not be used again until the mouse is found. (PA)

Save the piglets

Belgian men are being urged to “Let-em hang!” and go brief-free on Friday by animal rights campaigners bent on ending the pain of the five million piglets castrated in the country each year. Gaia said it was asking men, “who can easily imagine the suffering caused by live castration”, to leave their briefs and boxer-shorts in the cupboard September 9 “to show solidarity” with the pigs. Women should “hide their partners’ underwear”.

A few days after birth, male piglets are deprived of their testicles to prevent the rare but possible occurrence of a foul smell when pork is cooked.

The rights group said the slicing “causes intense pain” and urged the use of an injection to kill the pain.

To avoid “accident” during the brief-free show of solidarity, Gaia urged participants to opt for zipper-free pants, “take care before sitting down and avoid low-slung hipsters”.

Yesterday, more than 3,000 men pledged to “go commando” on the group’s Facebook page. (AFP)

Online guides

A Swedish tourist is planning to spend 24 hours wandering round London while online viewers tell him where to go.

Hans Eriksson, who will be sharing his experiences on the web through his live broadcasting service Bambuser, will set off at noon on Friday. “I won’t know which direction I’ll be taking. I’m totally at the mercy of the public and their recommendations as I walk through and broadcast from London’s streets,” he said. (PA)

Hot dogs

Two men have been arrested trying to smuggle 120 dogs from Thailand to Vietnam to be sold for human consumption.

The animals will be taken to a centre that cares for rescued dogs in Nakhon Phanom, about 370 miles from Bangkok. Dog meat is a delicacy in Vietnam and is served at restaurants in some parts of the country’s north. (PA)

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