The remains of an ancient forest that echoed to the sound of hunter gatherers 10,000 years ago has been uncovered by a week of severe new year storms in Wales.
Hidden under a dense pebble bank sea defence, the ancient forest became visible on the beach at Newgale, west Wales, only when the weather died down.
The site, which falls within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, was severely battered by gale force winds and violent storms last week.
Archaeologists from the National Park Authority are now battling against time to ensure that vulnerable parts of the submerged forest are protected.
Laughing is deadly dangerous
They say laughter is the best medicine but doctors have concluded it can be deadly, according to The Sun.
The perils include ruptures, hernias, heart failure, headaches, asthma attacks, jaw dislocation and a condition called giggle incontinence. Professor Robin Ferner, who reviewed reports dating back to 1946, said: “This refutes the proposition that laughter can be only beneficial. The harm that can occur during a prolonged overdose occur immediately after exposure.”
Dr Ferner reviewed 785 studies and just 85 showed benefits from laughing while 114 found dangers. He added: “None was particularly amusing.”
Death sentence for dirty oil sales
A Chinese man has been sentenced to death and two others given life imprisonment for producing and selling dirty cooking oil.
The black-market trade of recycled kitchen oil known as “gutter oil” which can contain carcinogens has been a chronic problem in China. A court in Jinan city in eastern Shandong province also sentenced seven other defendants in the case to five to 15 years in prison.
Rare waterlily stolen from Kew
Police have launched an appeal to trace a rare plant that was stolen from Kew Gardens.
A Nymphaea thermarum, the smallest waterlily in the world and extinct in the wild, was taken from the London visitor attraction.
Experts believe the culprits would have had to dig or pull up the plant from a shallow pond. Nymphaea thermarum was discovered in 1987 in just one location, Mashyuza in Rwanda. But it disappeared from there around two years ago due to over-exploitation of a hot spring that kept the plants moist.
There are more than 50 of the waterlilies at Kew, which is the only place in the world where they are regularly propagated in large numbers.
Pensioner addicted to scam mail
A 76-year-old woman has told how she paid out more than £200,000 after she became addicted for 56 years to scam mail.
Sylvia Kneller, of Farnham, Surrey, first started responding to the fraudsters when she was 20 years old and says she became “a believer”, convinced she would one day win a fortune.
But now the pensioner, whose first husband left her over her refusal to stop responding to the letters, has spoken of the impact on her life in a bid to warn others who have become addicted to the scams.