A retired Scottish school teacher was recovering yesterday after spending nearly four days trapped inside a men's toilet with no food or mobile phone.
David Leggat was locked inside the bathroom at a lawn bowling club near the Scottish city of Aberdeen after the door jammed and the handle on the outside fell off.
The 55-year-old kept warm by dipping his feet in hot water but only managed to get about three hours' sleep a night in the freezing temperatures, the local Evening Express newspaper reported.
He was rescued when the cleaner at the club, which is little used in winter, turned up to collect her cleaning equipment.
'Foot in Mouth' award
Former England soccer manager Steve McClaren fought off tough competition from US President George W. Bush to win a dreaded "Foot in Mouth" award yesterday from the Plain English campaign.
He was hailed for a supreme example of gobbledegook in talking about star player Wayne Rooney: "He is inexperienced but he's experienced in terms of what he's been through."
George W.Bush came second for "All I can tell you is that when the governor calls, I answer his phone."
Plain English Campaign spokesman Ben Beer told Reuters: "We thought it was a bit obvious to honour Bush as he comes up with them every day."
Schumacher turns taxi driver
Michael Schumacher can add the unofficial title of Germany's fastest taxi driver to his other achievements after taking over behind the wheel to get his family to the airport on time.
The retired Formula One champion drove the cab back to the airport himself after a trip out to the village of Gehuelz, near Coburg in southern Germany, left the family short of time to make their flight home, the Muenchner Abendzeitung newspaper reported.
"It was crazy having Schumi driving, with me in the passenger seat," the taxi driver was quoted as saying.
The seven-times world champion, who stopped racing last year but is still involved in the sport as an occasional tester for Ferrari, gave the driver a €100 tip on top of the €60 fare, the newspaper said.
'Faked' terracotta warriors
Police in Germany are investigating whether the exhibit of ancient Chinese terracotta warriors at the Museum of Ethnology in Hamburg was faked.
The exhibition Power in Death - The Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China, which opened last month will remain open - with a sign stating its authenticity is disputed - until a panel of Chinese experts arrive to review the figures later this week, a spokesman said.
Chinese officials from Xi'an, home of the 2,000-year-old clay funerary army, told German media they were not aware of original figures on loan in Germany. The museum is offering refunds to about 10,000 people who have visited the display of eight clay warrior figures, two horses and 60 smaller objects since it opened on November 25.
Lost pilot survives in bush
A Kenyan pilot who survived more than a week eating leaves and drinking his urine after crashing in a dense forest says he will continue flying, despite cheating death in his second accident in two years.
Solomon Nyanjui was feared dead after his helicopter went missing during a November 15 flight from Isiolo town to the capital Nairobi. But heavy vegetation had cut his speed as he lost power and crashed near snow-capped Mount Kenya.
"I realised even leaves are sweet because I fed on them for a while in the jungle," an elated Capt. Nyanjui told reporters from his hospital bed, his wife at his side. His comments were carried by Kenyan media yesterday.
As a huge search was launched, the veteran Kenya Wildlife Service pilot endured an eight-day ordeal, sheltering from torrential rain in the wreckage.
Prisoner gets compensation
An Israeli judge has ordered the country's prison authority to pay an inmate over $1,000 in compensation after he complained of having to share a cell with cockroaches.
Mordechai Yehudai filed a lawsuit complaining of poor hygiene, a lack of fresh air, broken windows and inmates who smoke in a handful of cells, a spokesman for the Israel Prisons Service said.
"The Prisons Service mistreated the plaintiff in a number of ways, including... broken windows, cockroaches as well as incarceration with smokers," Judge Irit Cohen wrote in her verdict, according to newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.