China opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge last week aiming to cut travel time between two major ports, but hundreds of drivers have been fined already for driving too slowly to enjoy the view.
The 36-kilometre structure spans Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang and was designed to slash travel time between its port city of Ningbo and the financial hub Shanghai from four hours to two and a half. But since its opening on May 1, police have fined more than 300 drivers, most for slow driving or illegal parking on the emergency lanes while enjoying the ocean view and taking photos.
"I just wanted to drive a bit slowly and enjoy the sea breeze. Is that wrong?" a driver was quoted as complaining. Some drivers busted for illegal parking even posed in front of police cameras, hoping to turn police snapshots into souvenirs.
Skull mystery deepens
A two-year investigation to determine which of two skulls belonged to Friedrich Schiller has found neither is a match, prolonging a 180-year-old mystery over the celebrated German poet's remains.
International experts came to their surprise conclusion after comparing DNA samples from the two skulls in question to material from the graves of the poet's relatives.
In 1826, 21 years after Schiller died, the mayor of Weimar had 23 skulls dug up from a mass grave where the poet was buried. The mayor identified the skull which bore a resemblance to Schiller's death mask but in 1911, another skull was retrieved from the mass grave and researchers claimed that was the real one. It is now a mystery where the dramatist's skull is.
Schiller, who died in 1805, wrote plays which are still performed regularly both in Germany and abroad. His poems including the Ode to Joy which Beethoven set to music.
'Famous Five' return
British youngsters now have the chance to pen their own Famous Five novel, as one of the country's best known children's book series yesterday made its television debut as a cartoon.
Almost seven decades after Enid Blyton created the child detectives, publishers of her popular novels are hunting for a modern day version of the author and would give two youngsters the chance to write their own adventure. This is part of the Disney Channel's 21st Century makeover of the characters who are starring in a 26-part cartoon series, titled Famous Five On the Case which began screening in UK for the first time yesterday.
The "lashings" of ginger beer and cream buns have gone, replaced with mobile phones, laptops, iPods and pizza, as the new five teenagers follow in their parents' daring footsteps and set about catching fake environmentalists, rather than kidnappers and smugglers - along with Timmy the dog.
Although critics have long branded the series sexist, racist and overly simplistic, Enid Blyton's stories are still hugely popular, selling more than 10 million copies a year, drawing readers into a bygone world of carefree kids and "beastly" grown-ups.
Minogue honoured
Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue received one of France's top cultural awards yesterday, before her world tour kicked off in Paris.
Ms Minogue was made a Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters) for "the cultural pleasure she has given French people" and for her love of France.
"Princess of pop, uncontested queen of the dance floors, you are a sort of Midas of the international music scene who turns everything she touches into gold, from records to micro-shorts," Culture Minister Christine Albanel said presenting the award.
Babies in freezer
A woman has been taken into custody in Germany after the bodies of three newborn babies were found in a freezer in the basement of a private home.
In a statement, authorities said they had opened an investigation into the deaths of the babies, which were discovered on Sunday after a tip from residents in Wenden-Moellmicke, east of Cologne.
A wave of infanticides by young German mothers has shocked the country and prompted political debate.
In one particularly gruesome case, a woman in Brieskow-Finkenheerd was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing eight of her babies and burying some of them in flower pots, buckets and fish tanks on her property.
Foul-mouthed chef
Australia's Catholic Church has taken a swipe at foul-mouthed British chef Gordon Ramsay and demanded his reality TV shows be either taken off air or shown at a later time.
The move comes as Australia's parliament holds an inquiry into swearing on television, prompted by Mr Ramsay's antics in his series Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen from the UK and the US, now broadcast three nights a week in Australia.
One episode broadcast recently featured Mr Ramsay using a four-letter expletive more than 80 times.
"There can be no excuse for vilification of this sort. We conclude that this episode should never have been aired on Australian television," the Catholic Church in Adelaide said.