World Briefs

Robbie Williams is to become a father, as he announced his wife Ayda is pregnant.

The 38-year-old singer - whose albums include I’ve Been Expecting You - announced the news on his blog. He said: “I’ve been keeping a secret from you all – me and Ayda are going to be mummy and daddy this year.”

The couple tied the knot in August 2010.

Williams has long talked of wanting to become a father and became an ambassador for children’s charity Unicef just over a decade ago.

The singer focused his affections on his pet dogs prior to finding love with Ayda Field.

Hot defensive bee ball

Don’t mess with Japanese honeybees!

Not only do they cooperate to attack their enemies but researchers now say their brains may actually be processing and responding to the threat. When confronted with their arch-enemy, the aggressive giant Asian hornet, the honeybees will attack it by swarming en masse around the hornet and forming what scientists call a “hot defensive bee ball” – a move unique to their species.

British motoring detractors

Kamikaze ducks, snowballs and a Susan Boyle CD are among a bizarre list of items which have damaged Brit motorists’ cars in the past year, research shows.

In the duck incident, a mallard flew clean through the windscreen of a woman’s car, the Autoglass company reported.

The company was also called out last year to a driver who needed assistance after reporting he had cracked his windscreen using a Susan Boyle CD to scrape away ice and a snowball that shattered a side window, while another summoned help after damage caused when he parked in front of a tee at a golf course.

Prosthetic axe for soldier

A soldier whose left arm was blown off in Afghanistan has helped design a prosthetic ice axe which he will use to climb Mount Everest.

Private Jaco van Gass, 25, from Middleburg, South Africa, was hit by a rocket propelled grenade in 2009. He is one of five injured servicemen who are setting off on a ten-day walk to Everest Base Camp today to push on to the 8,848-metre summit in May.

Private van Gass, who trekked to the North Pole with the Walking With The Wounded charity last year, had the idea to fix an ice axe to a false limb. He will use the tool to navigate treacherous points along the southern route to the summit of the world’s highest mountain.

Shot dead over dog poop

A 76-year-old Texas man was charged with murder for shooting his wife and two dogs after one of the animals pooped in the house. Police arrested Michael Stephen Stolz after a five-hour standoff at the man’s home in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville late on Tuesday. He was charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife, Bernice Stolz.