Actress Dame Joan Collins has bizarrely gone on Twitter to clarify that she was not arrested during a water charges demonstration in Ireland.
The 81-year-old actress, best known for her role as diva Alexis Carrington in hit TV show Dynasty, moved to distance herself from her namesake, an Irish parliamentarian detained during a protest in Dublin.
“No I am not the Joan Collins who was a rested (sic) yesterday at a Dublin protest meeting!!! The very idea!!” she said on her Twitter account.
In a quick-witted riposte, the other Joan Collins, a United Left Alliance TD (MP), hit back that she should not be confused with the British screen star.
Harry Potter really does cast spells
Certain words and sentences from Harry Potter stories cast a spell on the brain, activating regions that process emotions, research has shown.
Scientists used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to map the brains of volunteers reading excerpts from JK Rowling’s books about the young wizard. They found “significant correlations” between brain activity in regions associated with emotion and words and passages judged to be emotionally charged.
Psychologist Dr Francesca Citron, from the University of Lancaster, said: “These results suggest that a text’s constituting words can predict its emotion potential.”
Police to the rescue of newborn
Kind-hearted police officers have rescued a newborn lamb.
The animal was found dumped at the back of a church in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, by a group of children. The lamb was believed to be about two days old and was discovered behind St Aidan’s church on Princess Elizabeth Way.
The animal was sunburnt, dehydrated and still had its umbilical cord attached. PC Tania Kirby said: “We gave him a bit of water from a bottle and then he soon perked up.”
Aquarium wants penguin passion
New England Aquarium wants its endangered African penguins to get a little steamy ahead of World Penguin Day.
Aquarium experts are playing matchmaker behind the scenes to encourage eight pairs of penguins to breed more chicks. The Boston attraction is giving its penguins “honeymoon suites” – cosy plastic igloo-style homes and other private nooks off the main exhibit designed to get them in the mood.
Biologists say that will help a population expected to be extinct in the wild by 2025 to continue to thrive in captivity. Over the past 15 years, the aquarium has sent 28 birds to seven zoos and aquariums around North America. World Penguin Day is April 25.
No belly laugh as dancer jailed
An Egyptian court has sentenced a popular Armenian belly dancer to six months in prison for “insulting the Egyptian flag” after she allegedly wore a tight dress in its red, white and black colour scheme.
The court in Agouza, west of Cairo, said Sofinar Gourian, known popularly as “Safinaz”, was fined 15,000 Egyptian pounds (£1,320) and paid another 10,000 pounds (£880) bail pending an appeal. The case was initiated by a private complaint.
Insulting the flag was made illegal by decree under President Adly Mansour who ruled for a year after the army overthrew Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Gourian had argued that she did not insult the flag intentionally and as a foreigner was less aware of Egyptian laws.
70-year-old was flying high
Authorities quickly found out why a 70-year-old airline passenger arriving in New York was so nervous – she had 4lb of cocaine hidden in her girdle and underwear.
Authorities said Olive Fowler seemed apprehensive when she arrived at John F Kennedy International Airport from Guyana. Customs officers escorted her to a private room at the airport and found the cocaine while they were searching her.
Officials estimate that the drugs had a street value of more than 73,000 dollars (£49,000). Fowler is facing federal narcotics smuggling charges.