World briefs

A mum has developed a bizarre condition in which she cleans and tidies the house in her sleep, The Sun reports.

Claire Bartlett, 50, of Newport, South Wales, does the dishes, dusts and even shines the windows in a deep slumber. The odd habit started last October but because she does such a good job neither she nor her husband Crispin, 63, want to find a cure.

She said: “I think it’s every housewife’s dream and every husband’s. I don’t feel tired afterwards. If anything, I’m relieved when I wake up and everything is done. This happens about three times a week.” (PA)

Mid-air drama for royals

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall sat through a “hairy” mid-air drama yesterday when an in-flight emergency forced them to land minutes after take-off.

Fifteen minutes out of London a technical fault forced the royal helicopter to urgently divert to a nearby aerodrome in Buckinghamshire. Prince Charles and Camilla were flying to Wales for a day-long tour to Hay. “It was quite a hairy experience,” a source close to the palace added.

Despite the unscheduled stop the royal couple transferred to cars and continued on to Hay-on-Wye by road. They finally arrived close to three hours late. (AP)

Puppy swallows lolly stick

A puppy survived after swallowing a four-and-a-half-inch lolly stick, vets have said.

Lady, a 15-month-old shih tzu, fell ill after eating the wooden stick but was saved after owner Sarah rushed her to a vet. She said: “I noticed the dog had started sitting in a funny position, with her body slightly twisted. Then she went off her food and squealed when we picked her up.

“We couldn’t believe it when they told us they’d found a whole lolly stick inside her. We’ve no idea where she got it from, or how and when she ate it. It’s a complete mystery, but we’re just glad to have her home again.” (PA)

Two donkeys turn killers

Hungarian police say they are investigating an incident in which an elderly man may have been mauled to death by two donkeys.

It happened in the town of Magyarszecsod, when Sandor Horvath, a 65-year-old retired firefighter, was apparently pulled off his motorcycle by the donkeys kept in a field.

The animals may have dragged him 50 metres, biting and trampling him. (PA)

First sweet green tomatoes

Marks and Spencer is selling what it claims is the first ripe and sweet green tomato on the high street in a trial with a Lancashire farmer.

Grower Andy Roe has created “the perfect tasting green tomato”, which is technically sweeter than the popular Piccolini variety, the retailer said.

The tomato, named the Sweet Green, has sugar levels of up to 12 on the Brix scale, a scientific measure developed to assess the quality and sweetness of fruit and vegetables, compared with the Piccolini’s level of approximately eight to nine.

The tomato, originally discovered in Israel, will go on sale this week at selected stores but M&S said it hopes to grow them in larger volumes to sell nationwide from next year. M&S said it had seen a growing customer trend towards increasingly sweet tomatoes, with the best sellers all being sweet cherry varieties. (AP)