High scrap prices have led to a sharp rise in the theft of manholes and drain covers, fuelling a boom in metal theft estimated to cost Britain hundreds of millions of pounds a year, council leaders said yesterday.
Although prices have fallen from record highs in recent months, gangs hoping to make a quick profit have taken thousands of the covers, worth at least £300 each, from across the country.
Thieves have also stolen copper cables from railway signals, lead from church roofs and aluminium road signs. Live electricity cables, rail tracks and even bronze statues have also been taken to be sold for scrap.
The Local Government Association, which represents 466 councils, said covers and grates made of cast iron or lead should be replaced by ductile steel ones with little scrap value.
In Surrey alone, thieves have taken 268 covers since April, while 220 were stolen in four days in Warwickshire. On Tuesday, 20 went missing in Northampton and thieves took 42 in Slough last month, according to the LGA.
Octopus has more arms than legs
Octopuses' eight tentacles divide up into six "arms" and two "legs", a study published by a chain of commercial aquariums said yesterday. Octopuses are reckoned to be the world's most intelligent invertebrates and are able to use tools with their sucker-covered tentacles.
Helped by over 2,000 observations by visitors, teams of aquatic specialists carried out a study showing that the creatures seemed to favour their first three pairs of tentacles for grabbing and using objects, Sea Life aquariums said.
"One can assume that the front six tentacles have the function of arms, and that the back two take over the function of legs," said Sea Life biologist Oliver Walenciak.
Unlike humans and some other animals, most octopuses did not appear to be left-handed or right-handed. Those that were suffered from eye problems on their less-favoured side.
Birmingham admits Alabama gaffe
Council chiefs in Birmingham were left red-faced when they mistakenly used a picture of their US namesake in Alabama on thousands of official leaflets.
Pamphlets about recycling in the West Midlands bore an image showing the skyline of the city in the Deep South. Under the headline "Thank You, Birmingham!", the picture showed office blocks in the US city, rather than its own distinctive Rotunda tower and the curvy Selfridges store.
The council said it had made a mistake, but had no plans to recall the leaflets.
"We accept that the wrong photo was used but the text and detail contained in the leaflet is wholly correct which is the most important message as we strive to further improve our green credentials," the council said yesterday.
Rome plans theme park
With the ruins of ancient Rome, the splendour of Vatican City and countless Renaissance art treasures, what does Italy's capital lack to attract tourists? The answer, according to the mayor's office, is a Disneyland-style theme park.
"The model is Euro-Disney in Paris," said deputy mayor Mauro Cutrufo, announcing plans to build a vast ancient Rome theme park just outside the city which he says could be up and running within three to four years.
The park would provide family-friendly attractions to show visitors what life was like in the Rome of 2,000 years ago.
To be built on an as yet unspecified 400-500 hectare site, it would put a Roman twist on rides like Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean, in which visitors float on boats through a fantasy pirate world. "You would relive scenes from the Colosseum, from ancient Rome, gladiators or maybe Julius Caesar or other things," a Rome city official said.
Woman to be tried for stalking actor
A 33-year-old woman arrested on charges of stalking actor John Cusack is mentally competent to stand trial, a judge ruled yesterday.
Emily Diane Leatherman was taken into custody in March near the High Fidelity star's residence in the posh California beach community of Malibu and later charged with stalking. But the case was put on hold while she was evaluated by a court-appointed psychiatrist.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Susan Speer found Ms Leatherman mentally competent after reviewing the psychiatrist's reports and ordered her to stand trial on September 9.
Ms Leatherman was also charged with misdemeanour counts of petty theft and disobeying a restraining order, which Mr Cusack obtained against her last year.
She had previously had been arrested outside the Beverly Hills home of actor Tom Cruise.
Ms Leatherman faces a maximum penalty of three years in state prison if she is convicted.
Peaches Geldof marries
Bob Geldof's teenage daughter Peaches has married her American rocker boyfriend at a Las Vegas wedding chapel.
The 19-year-old tied the knot last week with Max Drummey, 23, a member of the indie band Chester French, in a "simple, low-key ceremony" while on holiday in the US.
The bride wore a cream dress and the groom kept his sunglasses on during the 15-minute ceremony at the Little White Chapel, according to a report in the Sun newspaper. It said the couple did not have any friends or family to act as witnesses so a photographer had to stand in.
Newspapers printed pictures of a wedding certificate bearing the names Maxwell C. Drummey and Peaches Honeyblossom Geldof.
The second daughter of Bob Geldof and the late TV presenter Paula Yates, Peaches has worked as a model, DJ and singer.