An unemployed Briton has launched a campaign to prevent his house from being repossessed amid the global downturn - on the grounds that it is a work of art.
Forklift truck driver Steve Williams has spent the past five years turning his home in Stoke-on-Trent, west central England, into an art gallery of his own.
"I started off just doing a couple of smaller paintings in the kitchen, and it just expanded from there," he told the Sentinel newspaper yesterday. "I've been painting the house on and off over the last few years now, sometimes changing the designs. My favourite one is probably the mural in the front room."
After graduating from college in 2003, the 25-year-old found work related to his passion hard to come by, and eventually took a job as a forklift truck driver, but amid the global economic downturn, that work has dried up as well.
Mr Williams took over the mortgage on his parents' home when they moved out but has since found it hard to cover the £360 (€390-euro) monthly payments, especially as the economic downturn deepens. (AFP)
Ryanair chief defends on-board toilet charge
The head of Irish budget airline Ryanair yesterday defended his plan to charge passengers to use on-board toilets, saying it would lead to "less passenger inconvenience" during flights.
Ryanair chief executive officer Michael O'Leary revealed last month the carrier was looking at the possibility of installing toilet doors in its planes which would only open with the insertion of a £1 coin (€1.10).
"In our discussions with (aircraft maker) Boeing they haven't yet been able to manufacture a toilet door that will take coins in it," he told a news conference in Madrid yesterday. "But I think it's a logical development, if you use the toilet for example in train stations in England you pay to use the toilets. I don't see any reason why people on board an aircraft wouldn't pay to use the toilet."
He said the on-board charge would mean more passengers would use the toilets at airports, and would lead to "less passenger inconvenience on board the aircraft." (AFP)
Sardinia to scrap tax on mega rich
The new governor of the sun-swept Italian island of Sardinia is repealing a tax on the mega rich that will benefit, among others, jet setters like billionaire Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Governor Ugo Cappellacci, the son of Mr Berlusconi's tax adviser, proposed a budget that repeals the tax on mooring luxury yachts and landing private aircraft on the island where the Prime Minister owns a holiday mansion.
The luxury taxes, which opponents said scared away the rich and hurt tourism, were introduced under the previous centre-left governor, Renato Soru, who was ousted in elections last month. (Reuters)
Crash pilot who paused to pray
A Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, killing 16 people, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court along with his co-pilot.
The 2005 crash at sea off Sicily left survivors swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that remained floating after the ATR turbo-prop aircraft splintered upon impact.
A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame but prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures and then opting to crash-land the plane instead trying to reach a nearby airport. (Reuters)
'Spider-Man' rescues autistic Thai boy
A Thai fireman turned superhero when he dressed up as comic-book character Spider-Man to coax a frightened eight-year-old from a balcony, police said yesterday.
Teachers at a special needs school in Bangkok alerted authorities on Monday when an autistic pupil, scared of going to lessons, sat out on the third-floor ledge and refused to come inside, a police sergeant said.
Despite teachers' efforts to beckon the boy inside, he refused to budge until his mother mentioned her son's love of superheroes, prompting fireman Sonchai Yoosabai to take a novel approach to the problem.
"My fireman rushed back to the fire station and took out his Spider-Man costume... The boy immediately ran into his arms with a smile," sergeant Virat Boonsadao said.
He said the fireman keeps the costume at work to liven up school fire drills. (AFP)