World Briefs

The RSPCA has been called out to rescue a flustered fox - which had been “outfoxed” by a floorboard.

Builders at the University of Hertfordshire spotted the trapped animal’s head poking out of a hole in the floor while renovating an office earlier this week.

After builders used crowbars to pull up the flooring panel, the less-than-crafty animal was pulled free, transferred to a cage and released at a safe location nearby.

Diabetic pilots set for record

Six pilots with insulin-treated diabetes are aiming to set a new national formation speed record.

The pilots are to fly six aircraft in the form of a letter D for nearly two hours, after setting off from Nottingham Airport, passing over six villages and towns whose first letters spell out the word diabetes.

Their flight coincides with a recent announcement by the UK Civil Aviation Authority which has introduced a new policy, allowing pilots with insulin-treated diabetes to fly commercially and privately.

Child psychopaths increase

Around one in 100 children in the UK could be a psychopathic “Kevin”, research suggests.

Like the budding serial killer in the novel and film We Need To Talk About Kevin, they are liable to lie, cheat, manipulate and commit acts of remorseless cruelty, and they lack empathy.

Psychologists are only now starting to recognise that psychopathic children, described as callous-unemotional, form a distinct sub-group. They are not primarily products of bad parenting, according to Professor Essi Viding from University College London, whose group has carried out twin studies which suggest that psychopathic traits in children are largely genetic.

Bull stuck in tree saved

Firefighters in Cumbria were sent out on an unusual call after a 300kg bull became stuck in a tree.

The county’s fire and rescue service found the animal trapped and hanging over a 10-metre drop at Sheriff Park Farm in Thrimby. It is thought the bull had slid down an embankment.

Two crews from Penrith and one from Shap used equipment designed for working at height. They used an animal sling to support the bull, which was lifted from the tree with telescopic heavy plant machinery. Farmer Phillip Armstrong, who owns the bull, told the News & Star in Carlisle: “When you see part of your livelihood like that it isn’t good.”

Bodies on show in Liverpool

An exhibition which puts preserved human bodies on public display will open in a busy shopping centre today.

Bodies Revealed, which caused a sensation when it first opened in New York, displays the preserved anatomical specimens of people who donated their bodies to medical science.

The exhibition has been set up in a former music store in Liverpool city centre and opens its doors to the public today.

Visitors will see the inner workings of the body - including bones, muscle tissue and organs - thanks to a technique called polymer preservation, in which the human tissue is preserved in liquid silicone rubber.