A Finnish court ordered Santa Park in the north of the country to pay compensation to three of the underground amusement park's former elves for replacing them with temporary workers.

Santa Park director Wille Rajala said the lay-offs were necessary for the struggling business, which fired all its full-time elves but the court said there were no grounds for temporary lay-offs.

The park in Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle boasts that it employs the world's only "official" Santa Claus. It has been ordered to pay the employees 5,600 euros each in damages.

Tubular spoof messages

An official announcer for London's Tube system has been sacked after making spoof messages mocking American tourists, peeping Toms and sweaty commuters.

Voiceover artist Emma Clarke, 36, recorded the announcements in the same smooth tones that have warned millions of passengers to "Mind The Gap" and posted them on her website. The messages included comments such as, "We would like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly."

Ms Clarke said it was just a bit of a laugh but Tube operator Transport for London failed to see the funny side and dropped her, after eight years.

12th century map on display

An 800-year-old map, the sole surviving copy of a chart used by the Roman Empire's courier service, was put on show for one day yesterday after being accorded Memory of the World status by Unesco.

The parchment scroll, nearly seven metres long, could only be displayed briefly because too much light would damage it, before it was returned to storage at Austria's National Library, where it has been since 1738.

The map shows roads linking some 4,000 settlements as well as mountains, rivers and forests from Spain in the west to China in the east. It was written on parchment at the end of the 12th century as a medieaval facsimile imitating the book scroll used in Roman antiquity. The original would have been used by Roman administrators and couriers, telling them the choice of roads, how long it would take to go somewhere and how comfortable their next rest stop would be.

Teachers against pension reforms

Striking Greek teachers rallied in central Athens yesterday demanding more funds for education and opposing planned pension reforms.

The government has pledged to reform the ailing pension system, which experts say will go bust in 15 years if it is not overhauled because of an ageing population and rising longevity.

Teachers' union committee member Dimitris Georgas said, "We also oppose the government's pension reform and are against raising the (retirement) age and social security contributions."

Unions have opposed the reform plan, which includes raising the retirement age, merging pension funds and raising monthly contributions, saying they will fight any measure that erodes existing rights.

Not Mohammed again!

A British primary school teacher has been arrested in Sudan, accused of insulting Islam's Prophet by letting her class of seven-year-olds name a teddy bear Mohammed.

Police arrested Gillian Gibbons, 54, after a number of parents complained to Sudan's Ministry of Education. She was accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammad.

Teachers at the school in Khartoum said Ms Gibbons made an innocent mistake and simply let her pupils choose their favourite name for the toy as part of a school project.

If convicted, Ms Gibbons could be sentenced to 40 lashes, six months in prison or a fine, said Ghazi Suleiman, the head of the Sudan Human Rights Group.

Cyprus seeks divine intervention

Cyprus's Orthodox Church called yesterday for prayers to end a crippling drought.

Cyprus, which is heavily reliant on rainfall for water supplies, is suffering one of the worst droughts of the past 100 years. Authorities say Cyprus's largest dam will run dry in the next 30 days, and they will soon start emergency drilling to tap underground water deposits.

"We are sure that if we all pray with deep faith the Almighty will heed our prayers; 'Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full'," Church leader Archbishop Chrysostomos said in a circular yesterday, quoting from the Gospel of John.