Rihanna suffered a rude awakening when she was one of 300 guests evacuated from a London hotel after a lift shaft caught fire.
The chart star tweeted a picture of a fire engine outside the hotel in Whitehall Place to her 23.5 million followers.
Bajan star Rihanna told fans on Twitter: “Roamin da streets since 6 a.m.!”
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said no one was injured in the blaze yesterday morning.
He added the fire caused a small amount of damage to a lift on the seventh floor of the hotel.
Around 10 firefighters dealt with the incident after being called at 6.22 a.m.
Rihanna performed at the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend concert on Sunday.
‘Women, have some self-respect!’
A subway operator in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai has caused uproar by warning women not to wear revealing clothes to avoid being groped by the city’s “perverts”.
On its microblogging site, the Shanghai No. 2 Subway Co posted a picture of a woman in a see-through dress and warned:
“If you dress like this on the subway, you will undoubtedly be harassed. The subway is full of perverts – women, have some self-respect!”
The warning has been forwarded more than 15,000 times and elicited nearly 7,000 responses, many expressing outrage and criticising the subway operator for “sexist” remarks. But a spokesman for the subway company said: “As the city’s subway operator, we have the responsibility to warn women of the potential danger of sexual harassment on the subway.”
Austrian police make fragrant catch
Austrian police said yesterday they had stopped five Romanians on the motorway with overflowing lorries transporting a whopping 9.5 tonnes of fresh garlic.
The five men, aged 25 to 37, could not explain where the pungent bulbs came from or prove the load belonged to them and were charged with transporting stolen goods.
The garlic – valued at €30,000 – was confiscated.
The smelly load was believed to have come from Spain and was heading towards Hungary, police said.
Perhaps they were trying to keep a horde of vampires at bay...
Left from one store and right from other
Shoplifters in New York have discovered they can steal a left shoe from the display in one store and the matching right shoe from another.
The owner of one Bronx trainer shop says the thieves do their research. They know before they steal a left shoe which store has a right shoe of the same size and style on display.
Some shops are tying shoes to walls so that no one will walk off with them.
Finalist with duct-taped prom dress
A teenager in Kansas has won a place as a finalist in a national design competition with a prom dress made entirely from duct tape. Brooke Wallace, 17, spent more than 200 hours fashioning a western-style dress for herself and a suit for her date from 42 rolls of tape.
Now she and her date could each win $5,000 if they take the title.