Turkmenistan prides itself on being home to over half of the world’s 3,000 Akhal-Teke horses, a breed highly prized for their stamina, beauty and athleticism, and the animal features on its national emblem.

The last Sunday in April each year has been declared to be national Day of the Turkmen Racehorse with competitions, races, and a contest in Ashgabat to find the most beautiful of all Akhal-Teke horses.

The competition is the brainchild of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who is seeking to ease the country out of the isolation of his eccentric predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov who died in 2006.

Mr Berdymukhamedov has sought to show that the Turkmen affinity with horses also runs through his blood, mounting a magnificent grey Akhal-Teke steed, dressed in Turkmen national costume. (AFP)

Facebook warning

Teachers should be wary of social networking sites and posting information on the internet amid concerns that schools and pupils are snooping online.

Headteachers and governors are googling potential employees, and students use the internet to find personal details about their teachers, a fringe meeting at the National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference in Harrogate heard.

The union recently issued fresh guidance for members warning them against befriending pupils or parents on social networking sites, and to think twice before posting information and photos about themselves, or their school, that they would not want others to see. (PA)

Parakeets culled

Wild parakeets living in the UK are being culled because they are a threat to native British wildlife, the government said.

The green, yellow and grey monk parakeet, which is native to South America, is also causing damage to crops, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). (PA)

Drinking girls

British girls are the biggest teenage binge-drinkers in the Western world, a report has revealed.

Statistics show that 50 per cent of 15-year-olds have been drunk at least twice – almost double the 29 per cent average of other developed countries.

Girls also drink more alcohol in the UK than their male counterparts, with only 44 per cent of 15-year-old boys admitting being intoxicated on two or more occasions. (PA)

Access granted

A 19-year-old Mexican woman who fasted for 16 days in a bid for an invitation to the royal wedding of Prince William has finally been granted her wish.

Estibalis Chavez will be flown to London for the April 29 nuptials thanks to an anonymous benefactor, according to the Mexico daily, Milenio.

Ms Chavez camped out in front of the British Embassy in Mexico City in February, refusing to eat, although officials at the embassy had told her she was fasting in vain.

Ms Chavez lost eight kilos during her fast, and painted a portrait of Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middleton, which the embassy also refused to deliver.

“I’ve been a fan of Lady Di since I was little and my mother’s a fan as well,” said Ms Chavez. “And I promised myself I would go to a royal wedding,” she said during her fast. (AFP)

Second coming

US evangelist Franklin Graham thinks the second coming of Jesus Christ could be a social media event captured by millions of mobile phones.

“The Bible says that every eye is going to see it” and that Christ will “come on the clouds”, Mr Graham, the oldest son of preacher Billy Graham, who used the media to make Christian evangelism a global phenomenon, told ABC News presenter Christiane Amanpour, host of This Week.

“How is the whole world going to see him at one time? I don’t know, unless all of a sudden everybody’s taking pictures (with their cell phones) and it’s on the media worldwide,” he said.

“I don’t know. Social media could have a big part in that,” the 58-year-old Mr Graham said. (AFP)