A cash-strapped village in eastern Germany has put its many potholes up for sale in a novel effort to finance the repair of its crumbling roads, the mayor said yesterday.
People can buy a hole in Niederzimmern near Leipzig for €50. In return the authorities will repair it - and put a personal message on top, Christoph Schmidt-Rose told local radio station MDR.
"It's about using a funny idea to find people prepared to help us sort out our roads" who can then "sort of feel like they own the hole in the road," Mr Schmidt-Rose said.
He said that some potholes had already been snapped up by TV channels and newspapers wanting to advertise.
Experts estimate that months of severe winter weather have left as many as 40 per cent of Germany's roads badly damaged. (AFP)
Child clears airliners for take-off
US flight authorities were in uproar yesterday after a youngster directed real airliners from the control tower at New York's JFK airport.
"Jet Blue 171 contact departure," says a squeaky voice in a February 17 recording aired by WFXT-TV in Boston.
The pilot of the airliner responds and tells the child: "Awesome job."
"That's what you get guys when the kids are out of school," laughs an adult at the control tower, presumably supervising the child.
It was not clear why the child was in the control tower or what role any employees had in bringing him there.
The Federal Aviation Authority said the staff at the bustling JFK airport had already been disciplined. (AFP)
Floating pumpkin
A top gardener, famous for his "big veg", is planning to set sail in a giant pumpkin to raise money for injured soldiers.
Medwyn Williams, chairman of the Fruit, Vegetable and Herb committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, hopes the 1,600lb pumpkin will help him raise funds for the Help for Heroes campaign.
Medwyn, 67, and son Alwyn, 42, a former soldier, will sail along the Menai Strait which separates the Isle of Anglesey from the mainland coast in North Wales. (PA)
Dummy bombs
A bomb squad in Sydney, Australia sent in robots to clear dozens of suspected explosives strewn about the house of a man who recently died.
Only then did they discover the devices were all fake.
The dead man, a 69-year-old recluse, apparently wanted to scare people away, police said. (PA)
Python problem
A council dealt with an unusual case of fly tipping when a three-metre python was found dumped in bushes in Hastings.
The bright yellow snake was discovered wrapped around a tree by refuse collectors in the Castle Hill Road area of the East Sussex town, following a tip-off from concerned local residents.
A spokesman for Hastings Borough Council said the animal appeared to have been dead for some time and left workers "baffled" as to what to do with it when they found it. (PA)
Wedded miss
A newlywed couple spent their wedding night in separate jail cells after the bride tried to run over an old flame of the groom.
Marissa Ann Putignano-Keene, 22, from Massachusetts, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Her husband, 37-year-old Timothy Keene, was in the car with her and was charged with disorderly conduct.
The victim said she had been a lover of the groom and his new wife tried to run her down in a car park. (PA)
Cat calls at House of Lords
Buying a cat to solve the problem of mice in the Palace of Westminster has been ruled out, peers were told yesterday.
Staff in restaurants and bars report "daily sightings" but Lord Brabazon of Tara, who is head of the Lords administration, said that there would be nothing to stop a cat wandering into the chamber.
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, a crossbench peer and leading doctor, reported regular sightings in eating areas and said there had apparently once been a cat in the palace who "apparently caught 60 mice a night".
But Lord Brabazon said the services of an independent pest control consultant and a full-time pest controller were retained. (PA)