The auction of the 242-year-old Swinford Toll Bridge in London this week has whipped up emotions as disgruntled motorists step up demands to end the ancient toll and keen international buyers are said to be lining up to make their bids for a tax-free investment.
The guide price for the picturesque stone bridge en route to the university city of Oxford is £1.0-1.25 million (€1.1-1.37 million). Built in 1767, the bridge carries just under four million vehicles a year with toll charges starting at just five pence for cars - an income to the private owner that is tax free under a centuries-old act of Parliament.
"It's highway robbery," charged Jane Tomlinson, a local artist who heads a "Scrap the Toll" campaign. The campaign calls for all charges to be dropped, claiming the tax-free provision is unfair and that traffic back-ups caused by the toll collection waste time and money.
Ms Tomlinson wants the local authority, Oxfordshire County Council, to buy the bridge near the village of Eynsham and deal with the issues. (AFP)
Moves mountain to park truck
An Indian villager used a hammer and chisel over the span of 14 years to carve a tunnel through a rocky mountain so that he could park his truck in front of his house.
"I could not park my truck near my house since the mountain blocked my path," Ramchandra Das, 53, who lives in eastern Bihar state's Gaya district, said.
Mr Das said fear of thieves stealing his truck prompted him to work on the tunnel all by himself after authorities refused help.
Local villagers, who had to trek for miles to get around the mountain are using the eight-mile-wide tunnel to reach their farms, and praising Mr Das for his work. (Reuters)
'Apparition' pilgrims suffer eye burns
Catholic pilgrims have suffered eye damage after staring at the sun in the hope of witnessing an apparition of the Virgin Mary, a doctor said yesterday.
On one occasion in October, some 10,000 people gathered at the Knock shrine in northwestern Ireland hoping to see Mary, despite pleas from an archbishop to ignore invitations to the event by a self-proclaimed spiritual healer. Some of those present said they had seen Mary, venerated by Christians as the mother of Jesus, and attributed her presence to the sun suddenly breaking through the clouds, changing colour, appearing to come closer or spinning in the sky.
Eamonn O'Donoghue, an ophthalmologist at University College Hospital Galway in the west of Ireland, said he had several patients whose retina had been burnt by the sun during a visit to Knock. Mr O'Donoghue said,"If you get a burn to your macula (a part of the retina) you are going to see bizarre visual phenomena". (Reuters)
Held over rich man's remains
Police in Hungary are questioning two men suspected of stealing the remains of a billionaire from his grave in Austria to try to extort money from his family, the MTI news agency said yesterday.
The coffin containing the remains of Friedrich Karl Flick, stolen from the cemetery in Velden in 2008, has been returned to the Flick family, the agency said, quoting Budapest police chief Gabor Toth.
A police statement said a 41-year-old lawyer, whom they identified as Barnabas Sz., was detained on suspicion of masterminding the crime. He denies involvement.
The second detained man, identified as Zoltan N., told police he had been commissioned to drive a small truck to Austria to steal the coffin and bring it to Hungary.
German-born Flick was ranked 94th among the world's richest people at the time of his death in 2006, according to Forbes magazine. (Reuters)
Orangutan opens Facebook gallery
A 33-year-old furry photographer is winning fans on social networking website Facebook for pictures of her daily life as an orangutan in a Vienna zoo.
Orangutan Nonja's photos, taken with a camera that dispenses raisins as she snaps, have won over 500 fans on Facebook since the zoo launched an online photo album on Tuesday.
Although the slightly blurry images of Nonja's climbing rope, food and companion's shaggy red-brown fur have won lots of admiring comments from fans, the photographer herself is not so interested.
The Vienna Tiergarten set up the project to help keep Nonja and her three hairy ape friends entertained in their enclosure. The album is online at: http://www.facebook. com/pages/Nonja/190010092116 . (Reuters)