A 73-year-old Dutch man was astonished to learn from police that the begonias he had lovingly tended on his doorstep concealed a secret marijuana plantation.

"Police officers suddenly noticed marijuana plants sprouting from his begonias," a police spokesman in The Hague said yesterday.

The Hague pensioner promised to destroy the marijuana plants, which he believes were planted by local youngsters, while preserving his begonias.

Earlier this month the Dutch government set up a task force to crack down on marijuana cultivation in the country. Growing marijuana is illegal in the Netherlands, but sales of it and other cannabis-related soft drugs in coffee shops have been tolerated for decades.

'Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii' renamed

A young girl so embarrassed by being called "Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii" has won a new name from a family court judge in New Zealand. Judge Rob Murfitt, ruling from New Plymouth on New Zealand's North Island, made the youngster a ward of court so that she could change the name that she hates.

Judge Murfitt, in a written ruling released yesterday, said the girl's mother had not given any thought to the implication of naming her daughter. "In all facets of life, a child bearing this name would be held up to ridicule and suspicion," Judge Murfitt wrote in his ruling that was made in February but only just released.

The judge also took a stand against other parents saddling their children with bizarre names despite officials often trying to talk them out of unusual choices, saying this could create "social hurdles" as they grew up.

He cited as examples a family who named their children after six-cylinder Ford cars, twins called Benson and Hedges and youngsters called Midnight Chardonnay, Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence.

Students want Rice arrested

A group of New Zealand students has come up with a novel way of protesting against a visit by US. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, offering a cash reward for her "arrest" over US actions in Iraq.

The Auckland University Students' Association has offered NZ$5,000 (€2,360) for any student making a citizen's arrest of Ms Rice during her 36-hour stay that started yesterday evening.

"It's primarily symbolic, but it's a protest against her actions as secretary of state in Iraq and the authorisation of the torture of suspected terrorist detainees," said the student body's president, David Do. Police said the stunt was disturbing, and warned that no one would be allowed to disrupt the visit. "We are obliged to ensure the safety and security of the visiting guest and we will not shirk from that task," said District Commander Superintendent Brett England in a statement.

Rapper sings at court

Chart-topping rapper DMX pleaded not guilty to a pair of felony theft charges in a Phoenix court on Thursday, and then treated reporters to an impromptu rap about bouncing back from adversity.

DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was charged with one count of theft and one count of taking someone else's identity.

The charges stemmed from a visit Mr Simmons made to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, in April during which he gave his name as Troy Jones, allegedly to avoid paying for treatment.

After denying the charges, he serenaded reporters waiting outside the Maricopa County Superior Court. "If and when you ever fall down, get back up," Mr Simmons began, according to a censored recording on a local radio station's website.

"Drop something, stop fretting, pick that... back up, stand for something or fall for everything, wait for the right pitch or miss with every swing," he sang.

Funfair's electric chair closed after protests

An Italian funfair has closed an attraction where a life-sized dummy was "executed" in an electric chair following protests by opponents of capital punishment.

The macabre exhibit at the Luna Park in northern Milan allowed visitors to insert coins and watch the dummy strapped to an electric chair go through his death throes - convulsing, smoking, and slumping from the simulated charge.

Milan's mayor, church organisations and Hands Off Cain, a group working to abolish the death penalty worldwide, had all protested against it.

Hands Off Cain called it "a demented and culturally devastating attraction, which undoes years of work on the part of those struggling against the death penalty". It was a way of profiting from the "base and bestial aspects of our society," it said.

Capital punishment is banned in Italy.

Chasing civil servants' 'train of happiness'

Late into the night, students diligently rehearse exam questions at dozens of schools in downtown Brasilia that offer people the chance for a better, more prosperous life - that of a Brazilian bureaucrat.

Generous pay, stability, and often easy hours will attract applications from as many as 10 million people this year for civil service jobs. Brazilians often refer to getting a government job as catching the "train of happiness".

In a country with glaring poverty, grossly inadequate public services and a towering public debt, civil servants do very well, as the many luxurious homes with pools, servants and shiny cars in the capital Brasilia's residential areas show.

There are an average of 700 applicants per job and some candidates study for years to pass an entry exam.