A French parachutist's bid to set a world freefall record was in doubt on Tuesday after the balloon that was to carry him 40 kilometres above the prairie of Western Canada left without him.

The balloon that was to carry daredevil Michael Fournier to his jump height separated from its gondola when it was on the ground near North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and floated away.

It was the latest setback for Mr Fournier, a 64-year-old former colonel in the French army reserve who holds France's freefall record. On Monday, high winds forced him to postpone the attempt for a world record.

Spanish twin sues for mix-up

A Spanish twin, separated from her family for 28 years, is suing the Canary Islands for a mix-up at the maternity hospital which led to her being taken home by the wrong mother, media reported yesterday.

The woman discovered she had an identical twin when she was mistaken for someone else in a shop in 2001.

The two sisters, who were not named, found they were born in the same hospital in 1973 around the same time and a DNA test subsequently showed they were identical twins.

The woman is suing the Canary Island health services for €3,000,000 for emotional trauma. "I wish I'd never found out about it," her lawyer quoted her as saying.

Her sister was brought up alongside another girl, believing they were twins.

Vietnam reports 'UFO' explosion

An unidentified flying object exploded in mid-air over a southern Vietnamese island, state media said yesterday, a day after Cambodia's air force retracted a report of a mysterious plane crash.

The Vietnam News Agency said residents of Phu Quoc island, off the coast of the Cambodian province of Kampot, found shards of grey metal, including one 1.5 metres long.

"The explosion happened at about eight kilometres above the ground, and perhaps it was a plane, but authorities could not identify whether it was a civil or military aircraft," VNA said."

Soldiers were sent out to look for wreckage and survivors, and local authorities contacted airlines in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, but received no reports of missing aircraft.

Heatwave hits Balkans

Temperatures hit record highs across the Balkans yesterday, killing one person and sending dozens to hospitals around the region with heatstroke.

Bosnia's meteorology institute said temperatures may hit a 100-year record, reaching over 35˚C in central parts of the country and 38˚C in the south.

The Sarajevo University medical centre said it had seen over 200 patients with heat-induced complaints in the last few days.

An elderly man died during a tram ride in the Croatian capital Zagreb on Tuesday from suspected heat stroke, and Serbian authorities said yesterday would be the hottest May day ever recorded in Belgrade.

Safe for 300 years

The leaning tower of Pisa has been successfully stabilised and is out of danger for at least 300 years.

The tower's tilt of about four metres has remained stable in recent years after a big engineering project that ended in 2001 corrected its lean by about 40 centimetres from where it was in 1990.

"Now we can say that the tower can rest easy for at least 300 years," Professor Michele Jamiolkowski, an engineer and geologist who has been monitoring the iconic tourist attraction, was quoted as telling Corriere della Sera in an article published yesterday. The tower was shut to visitors for almost 12 years from 1990 - when it was sinking about a millimetre a year - and reopened in December, 2001.

The free-standing bell tower was built in several stages between 1174 and 1370, began to tilt after completion of several storeys due to unstable ground. Builders at first used trapezoidal stones to return the structure to the vertical but the tower continued to lean.

During the stabilisation phase of the project which ended in 2001 the structure was anchored to cables while cement was injected to relieve pressure on the ground. The lean of the tower is now about what it was in 1700.

Tasers may affect heart

A quick shock from a Taser may have zapped a man's fluttering heart back into a healthy rhythm, doctors have reported.

The incident showed that the devices, used by police to incapacitate people but condemned by some civil rights groups as dangerous, may affect the heart as critics allege.

In this case, the outcome was a happy one. The 28-year-old patient was fleeing police and jumped into a lake in April, when the water was still very cold.

Kyle Richards, a cardiologist in Connecticut, who treated the man when he was taken to emergency, said the patient was experiencing an irregular heart rhythm, possibly as a result of the cold and shock. After treatment, the patient was eager to leave.

"He got very combative and started yelling in my face and that's when I left the room and got security," Dr Richards said.