World Briefs

The Duke of Cambridge will be posted to the Falklands with the RAF Search and Rescue force for six weeks next year

The Duke of Cambridge will fly search and rescue helicopter missions in the Falkland Islands next spring, the Ministry of Defence has announced.

William, a Flight Lieutenant with the RAF, will be posted to the remote outcrop in the South Atlantic from February to March for six weeks.

His deployment was announced in the summer but it has taken until now to work out when he could serve on the British overseas territory. (PA)

Wakes up different after accident

A 19-stone rugby player who suffered a stroke ditched his fiancée after claiming he woke up gay following the accident.

Chris Birch, 26, has since slimmed down to a lithe 11 stone, retrained as a hairdresser and moved in with a teenage boyfriend.

He now works at J’s Hair Salon in Ystrad Mynach, South Wales, after giving up his job in a bank.

The life-changing accident happened during a rugby training session when he attempted a back flip and broke his neck. The man who eventually emerged was different in almost every way and found he hated sport and was no longer interested in women. (PA)

Cat-swing attack caught on CCTV

The RSPCA is looking for a man caught on CCTV swinging a cat by its tail. Footage shows the animal attacker seemingly dancing down a road in Ramsgate, Kent, with the black cat at arm’s length in scenes of abuse that last for more than 30 seconds. At one point a man thought to be an accomplice is struck by the two-year-old cat, called Mowgli, owned by Michelle Buchanan, an IT teacher from Ramsgate. The RSPCA condemned the incident and police were informed. (PA)

No Miss!

A teacher who wrote that she was a “warden for future criminals” on Facebook has been sacked.

The New Jersey teacher said she posted her remark in exasperation because several pupils kept disrupting her lessons and one had hit her. (PA)

Ballot biter

An election worker in Ohio bit a voter’s nose during an argument over a campaign sign. Greg Flanagan said he was attacked when went to intervene in an argument with the man over a sign posted near the polls.

He was treated at hospital and then released. (PA)

Police examine 300 million e-mails

Scotland Yard’s phone-hacking squad is working its way through 300 million e-mails from News International, the force’s chief revealed yesterday.

Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said police had already spent up to £3 million on salaries, with officers speaking to 1,800 of 6,000 potential victims.

Mr Hogan-Howe said the “scale of the task is pretty large” as it emerged a total of 120 officers and staff are now working on the investigation. (PA)