Rock superstars U2 are to go back to their spiritual home by returning to the record label that discovered them in the 1970s.
The band left Island Records more than seven years ago, unhappy with the way they were being treated.
But the Irish quartet are now planning their return to the label for a new album next year.
U2 had a long and celebrated association with Island – which has also been home to acts such as Bob Marley and Grace Jones.
But the relationship soured after label boss Jason Iley was moved to sister label Mercury and, unhappy with the lack of personal involvement from his successor, the group left the company to follow their former boss.
Python strangles security guard
A security guard has been killed by a python near a luxury hotel on Indonesia’s island of Bali.
Agung Bawa, assistant security manager at the Bali Hyatt hotel in Bali’s Sanur area, said the incident happened at about 3am yesterday as the 15-ft python was crossing a road near the hotel, which is closed for renovations until 2015.
People watching were unable to help and called the police, who came but failed to save the man. The python escaped into nearby bushes. Bawa said the victim, a 59-year-old security guard at a nearby restaurant, had managed to secure the snake’s head and tail, but the python then wrapped itself around his body and strangled him to death.
Pet dog dressed in Nazi uniform
The man who made headlines for wearing a Nazi SS uniform while shopping in Tesco has shocked the public again by dressing his dog in a similar style, The Cambridge News reports.
Paul Dutton, who blames his obsession on mental health issues, walks his Chinese crested dog Albie in a homemade Nazi coat. The 48-year-old has spent two months making the wool-lined beige outfit, which has a big, black swastika on the back and other SS badges.
Dutton said: “Albie doesn’t mind and it’s just a nice little coat for him. I put a lot of effort into making it, it took a long time to make and I’m proud of it. Now we can march as Hitler’s men.”
Ian Paisley in hospital for tests
Former Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley has been admitted to hospital for tests.
The party stalwart was treated for a heart condition last year and was taken into the Ulster Hospital, near Belfast over the weekend.
Paisley led the DUP into power-sharing with Sinn Fein in 2007. In 2012, the 87-year-old spent a week on a life support machine suffering from heart failure.
He later returned to public life. The previous year he had a pacemaker fitted at St Thomas’ hospital in London after falling ill at Westminster. Paramedics had to revive him following his collapse in Parliament.
Paisley stood down as Northern Ireland’s first minister in 2008 and ended 60 years of full-time ministry in January 2012. The veteran unionist and fundamentalist Protestant preacher has been a colossus of Northern Ireland politics.
Christmas tree goes up in flames
A 13.7-metre-tall Christmas tree at an open-air mall in Las Vegas went up in flames and burned Santa’s cottage just after the holiday season.
Fire crews found flames reaching 30.5 metres in the air when they arrived at Town Square about 2am on Christmas morning. The fire also damaged a house where children posed for pictures with Santa.
Firefighters were quickly able to extinguish the blaze and nobody was hurt. Clark County Fire Chief Jon Klassen told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that faulty wiring in the artificial tree could be to blame.