A skatepark dating back to the sport’s 1970s peak has become a protected heritage site in recognition of its cultural importance.

With its half-pipe, moguls and special skating pool, the 1978 concrete Rom skatepark in Hornchurch, east London, is distinctly unlike most listed buildings.

As it became the first facility of its kind in Europe and only the second in the world to achieve listed status, heritage bosses said the construction was an important example of youth culture in the UK.

It has been granted Grade II status, meaning it is nationally important and of special interest, by the Department for Culture Media and Sport on the advice of English Heritage.

Police swoop on Halloween stunt

Armed police swooped on a Halloween event after a passer-by saw people being bundled into the back of a van by men holding guns and wearing balaclavas.

But the 20 men and women were in fact participants in a “physical horror” survival event, called Outbreak, in the village of Albourne, West Sussex, organisers said.

Ticket-holders meet at a secret location in Brighton to be taken, by military escort, on to the South Downs.

Outbreak spokesman David Parker said: “Most of the participants thought the police were part of the event.”

Sussex Police confirmed they had been contacted by a member of the public who had seen men wearing balaclavas and carrying guns. The organisers were “given strong words of advice”, a force spokeswoman said.

Mobile phones could tackle Ebola

Mobile phone records could provide more accurate and up-to-date information than traditional census methods for keeping track of populations around the world, according to new research.

A study by an international team, including the University of Southampton, has found that maps made using mobile records are detailed, reliable and flexible enough to help inform infrastructure and emergency planners particularly in low income countries, where recent population density information is often scarce.

They could even be used to help tackle crisis situations such as the spread of Ebola, the report said.

Hello Kitty pulled for drink driving

A US woman was arrested on a drink-driving charge after she was pulled over wearing a Hello Kitty costume.

Police stopped Carrie Gipson, of Westbrook, Maine, when she was spotted driving in the wrong lane.

Officers said she refused to take a breath test and was arrested for operating under the influence.

The 37-year-old’s police mugshot at Cumberland County jail shows her wearing a red and white Hello Kitty costume, minus the doll’s oversized head.

Viewers gripped by landslide wait

Norway, which has previously provided TV viewers with five hours of live knitting, a fire burning itself out and minute-by-minute salmon fishing, has found a new attraction – a rockslide on a mountain – but no-one knows when it will happen.

For days, local media have focused webcams on an isolated, rubbly mountainside in Mannen, western Norway, and national broadcaster NRK is streaming it live on its website in anticipation of the big event. Last week, 11 people were evacuated from the area, now declared a no-go zone.

But the webcams cannot guarantee a good show. The slide might happen at night, and a daytime slide could be hampered by thick rain and mist.