World Briefs

Britain’s first gay surrogate parents did not act with “reasonable care” when they conducted clinical trials on children, a court heard.

Millionaires Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow, who have five surrogate children, let youngsters who suffered from the skin condition eczema take part in a study more than once – against research protocol, Southwark Crown Court was told. The couple, who became the first British same-sex couple to be named on their children’s birth certificates in 1999, are standing trial accused of fabricating test results for two clinical trials, one of them for children’s medication, between July 2006 and June 2007.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, which is prosecuting the case, said it was the first case of its kind to go to court under the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations. (PA)

Primal scream upset

A furious tirade launched against the Conservatives by rock band Primal Scream appears to have been sparked by confusion between two similar riffs.

The group issued an angry statement railing against the use of their music amid reports on Twitter that Home Secretary Theresa May left the stage to the strains of 1994 top ten hit Rocks.

Not only were the famously left-wing Scottish band upset at being associated with the “sick” party, they said, but lyrics about drug taking and prostitution hardly seemed appropriate.

But the party said in fact the track chosen was Bohemian Like You by the Dandy Warhols. The confusion appears to have begun when Labour MP Kerry McCarthy, tipped off by someone in the hall, wrote on Twitter that the Primal Scream song was used and posted a link to the lyrics. (PA)

Nude dancer quits

Big Brother contestant Mark Henderson quit the show saying he has had enough of being filmed and being “trapped”. Three weeks ago the 28-year-old sales assistant was happy to perform a naked congo in front of housemates and his nude dance was broadcast on the Channel 5 show. But he has now decided he no longer wants to parade in front of the cameras. (PA)

Boy sleeps in coffin

A north-eastern Pennsylvania couple accused of making a seven-year-old boy sleep in a coffin have been arraigned on endangerment and unlawful restraint charges.

The nappy-clad boy was found crying in the basement of a home. He said he was bound with tape. His mother, 26, and stepfather, 31, were ordered to be taken to Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of US$60,000(€45,000) bail.

The Scranton Times-Tribune said the couple said nothing as they were escorted out of the Scranton police headquarters. (AP)

Divers abandoned

The US Coast Guard said it was investigating a Florida tourism company that left behind two tourists while they were scuba diving.

The tourists – Paul Kline and Fernando Garcia Puerta – were rescued by a private yacht which found them clinging to a buoy in shark-infested waters. RJ Diving Ventures of Miami Beach took a group of 30 people, including Kline and Garcia, in a boat to scuba dive in the open ocean, the Miami Herald reported. When Mr Kline and Mr Garcia surfaced, however, they found that the boat had gone. (AFP)

Molar flare

A father has pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment after his teenage son tried to pull out his own teeth because he had not been taken to a dentist. Francisco Torres, from Pennsylvania, told a judge that he “procrastinated” about getting the boy dental care.

Police said the boy tried to pull out his teeth after complaining of pain for several months. He needed emergency surgery. (PA)

Bus stop

A bus driver in Oregon threw a woman and crying baby off a bus, saying: “I can’t drive with that noise.” A company spokeswoman said drivers could take steps if they believed safety was in jeopardy.A passenger said the baby was not very loud and all the other passengers got off the bus in protest. (PA)

Turns up alive

Syrian state television has aired an interview with a woman who had reportedly been found decapitated, armless and skinned in a morgue last month, amid a deadly protest crackdown.

Zaynab al-Hosni became a symbol of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad after international human rights watchdogs said late September that her mother had found her mutilated body in a morgue. (AFP)