World Briefs

Nine-time Paralympic champion Lee Pearson (above) was back in hospital this week after he tripped over a chicken.

Mr Pearson, 37, who is recovering from a fractured spine and aiming for another golden riding hat-trick at London 2012, collided with the bird, called Tracy Turnboil, on Tuesday night.

Mr Pearson, of Cheddleton, Staffordshire, tripped over the chicken at his yard. (PA)

Sex change

Viewers will see “graphic” footage of sex-change surgery in a new documentary series about the lives of transgender people.

The Channel 4 show, Girls Will Be Boys And Boys Will Be Girls, will follow seven people in their everyday lives and also as they gather at a rural retreat to talk through the problems they face.

Among the stars of the four-part series are a 52-year-old former police officer called Karen who is about to undergo surgery, and Max, from north London, who wants to become the first transgender rabbi. (PA)

The Mummy show

A team of scientists will try to mummify a corpse to solve the centuries-old mystery of how the ancient Egyptians managed to preserve the bodies of their pharaohs.

The process will be shown in a new television programme called Mummify Me.

It is not known where the body came from but Channel 4, which will broadcast the show, said it had been “donated specifically for the purpose” of the experiment. (PA)

Chocolate cure

Those who would rather eat chocolate than exercise can take heart from new research that suggests one is as good as the other.

Scientists found that small amounts of dark chocolate may improve health in a similar way to exercise. Epicatechin, a plant compound in chocolate, appeared to stimulate the same muscle response as vigorous activity. (PA)

Dying to phone

Nigerians have been getting reassuring advice from their government: a phone call can’t kill you.

A text message has spread across the country in recent days, warning that people will die if they answer mobile phone calls from 09141.

The widespread fear forced the Nigerian Communications Commission to issue a statement aying it is “unimaginable that somebody will die while receiving a call”. Text message panics in Nigeria have included rumours of bombings and that acid rain from seasonal dust storms can burn people alive. (PA)

The X gender

Australian passports will now have three gender options – male, female and indeterminate – under new guidelines to remove discrimination against transgender and intersex people, the government says.

Intersex people, who are biologically not entirely male or female, will be able to list their gender on passports as “X”.

Transgender people, whose perception of their own sex is at odds with their biology, will be able to pick whether they are male or female if their choice is supported by a doctor’s statement. Transgender people cannot pick “X”. Previously, gender was a choice of only male or female, and people were not allowed to change their gender on their passport without having a sex-change operation. (PA)

Jumbo gift

Sri Lanka is to donate a baby elephant to the Philippines to mark the golden jubilee of bilateral relations between the two countries.

The animal will come from a government-run elephant orphanage.

Sri Lanka’s first national survey of wild elephants last month put their population at 5,879, more than previously estimated. Wildlife officials say the figure shows that the species has a healthy and growing population on the Indian Ocean island. (PA)

No short skirts

Bulgarian schools, where strict discipline reigned until the fall of communism, are starting to reintroduce decency rules as clothes grow skimpier and teenagers increasingly make out in hallways.

“Students must not exhibit intimate behaviour during lessons, nor in the school,” according to the regulations of one Sofia high school, cited by the daily 24 hours on the first day of the new school year. A similar paragraph was also included in the rulebook in a school in Shumen, in the northwest, the newspaper said. (AFP)

Stabbed with needle

At least 40 middle school pupils have been stabbed with a hypodermic needle by a fellow student, health officials in Puerto Rico said today.

All are being tested for possible diseases and are being given preventive medicine. Health Department press officer Margarita Casalduc said the attack occurred at a school in the southern coastal town of Arroyo on Tuesday.

She said she did not know if the syringe contained anything or was contaminated.

Education Secretary Jesus Rivera Sanchez said in a statement that the female suspect has been suspended. (AP)