The protester who threw a foam pie at Rupert Murdoch has been jailed for six weeks.

Jonathan May-Bowles, 26, pleaded guilty last week to assaulting the 80-year-old media tycoon as he gave evidence to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee about the phone hacking scandal.

Mr May-Bowles, also known by his comedy stage name “Jonnie Marbles”, disrupted proceedings by launching a paper plate of shaving foam at Mr Murdoch. (PA)

Train champions

Swiss train users are the world’s most prolific railway riders, tracking an average of 2,258 kilo-metres every year, the country’s public transport association said yesterday.

According to the Swiss Public Transport Information Service, Swiss railway users came well ahead of Japan, which clocked in 1,910 kilometres, followed by Denmark, at 1,322 kilometres, and France, at 1,320 kilometres.

The association, using data from the Paris-based International Union of Railways, however said Japanese residents took the train an average of 69 times per year, followed by Switzerland at 50 times per year, and Denmark at 35. The information service added that Swiss passenger rail usage was expected to rise 60 per cent by 2030. (AFP)

Mass blindness

Greece, battling a crushing debt crisis, said it would probe a suspiciously high rate of blindness benefits claimed by hundreds of residents on one of its islands.

Deputy Health Minister Markos Bolaris ordered the investigation after more than 600 of about 30,000 residents of the Ionian Sea island were found to be pocketing the support grant, a government source said.

“We do not know how many of these people are actually entitled to the benefits,” the official said, without naming the island or specifying the sums paid out.

Greek daily Ethnos said two per cent of the island’s population had claimed the benefit for years, most of them since infancy.

Authorities will now scrutinise the entire Greek social welfare payroll, which costs the state €6.4 billion a year, the daily said. (AFP)

No cheating

Mobile operators in Uzbekistan suspended internet and messaging services for the duration of nationwide university entrance exams yesterday in an apparent bid to prevent cheating, a report said.

Five national mobile operators shut down mobile internet and text and picture messaging for four hours from 9 a.m., citing “urgent maintenance work on telecommunications networks,” gazeta.uz reported.

Voice services were not affected, the website said. The restrictions affected not just those taking tests, but all of the country’s estimated 19 million mobile phone users.

Reports suggested that authorities feared students may use mobile internet and text-messaging to cheat on their exams. Police conduct a thorough search for phones and cheat sheets before students enter a university building. (AFP)

Campsite refund

A Dutch campsite has come up with a novel way to attract customers in this unseasonally cold and wet summer: a free stay should the average temperature drop below 20°C.

Following a hot and dry spring, summer temperatures have plummeted and July was colder and twice as wet as usual, the country’s meteorological institute said.

“We want to state it loud and clear: rain does not have to stand in your way to enjoy a fantastic holiday,” said Sylvia Jansen, campsite manager at the Hooge Veluwe Dream Park, some 87 kilometres southeast of Amsterdam.

“We were tired of hearing on television and reading in the papers that the weather is too miserable to camp this summer. We wanted to refute the idea,” she told AFP of the special offer that opened Monday and will run to August 20. (AFP)

Superhero names

A dynamic duo are thought to have flown into the record books by changing their names to mark their love of superheroes.

The names, now thought be the world’s longest, were the brainchild of best friends Kelvin Borbidge, 22, and Daniel Knox-Hewson, 23, both from Nottingham.

The duo changed their names to Emperor Spiderman Gandalf Wolverine Skywalker Optimus Prime Goku Sonic Xavier Ryu Cloud Superman HeMan Batman Thrash and Baron Venom Balrog Sabretooth Vader Megatron Vegeta Robotnik Magneto Bison Sephiroth Lex Luthor Skeletor Joker Grind.

The pair changed their names with the Legal Deed Poll Service for £10 each earlier this week, and knocked 19-year-old George Garratt off the top spot for the longest moniker in the UK after he changed his name to Captain Fantastic Faster than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk and the Flash Combined.

Emperor Thrash, formerly Mr Knox-Hewson, said: “We decided to change our names because we were bored of our day-to-day lives and wanted to do something that reflected our true personalities. We couldn’t believe how easy it was to do so, we just had to fill in a few forms and we were granted superhero status. (PA)