Walking into Ruowen Pet Spa is like entering a doggie Halloween costume contest. There's turtle-dog, zebra-dog, spiderman-dog, tiger-dog and even panda-dog.
Raphael the toy poodle runs around in his playpen like any other dog - except his snow white coat has been dyed neon green and is partially shaved with a protruding shell on top to resemble a turtle. He seems oblivious to his unique look but enjoys the attention of onlookers.
Raphael, named after a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character, is one of half-a-dozen dyed dogs on display at the spa in central Beijing, which caters to wealthy Chinese who are fuelling a booming pet craze in China.
Mozzarella balls get the blues
Italian police confiscated some 70,000 balls of mozzarella in Turin after consumers noticed the milky-white cheese quickly developed a bluish tint when the package was opened.
Agriculture Minister Giancarlo Calan ordered ministry laboratories to investigate what he called a disturbing development.
State TV said yesterday a customer called police after noticing the mozzarella, made in Germany for an Italian company, turned blue after contact with air, and that several merchants in Turin received similar complaints about the cheese.
TV said samples were also sent to laboratories that normally deal with anti-doping testing in sport to see if they could detect any foreign substances.
Producer Ronald Neame dies at 99
Ronald Neame, who produced and co-wrote acclaimed British films like Great Expectations, saw Hollywood success as director of The Poseidon Adventure and was nominated for three Oscars, has died. He was 99.
Neame's wife Donna said her husband died in a Los Angeles hospital last Wednesday, about six weeks after being injured in a fall.
Neame began his career of more than 60 years in 1929 when he worked as a cameraman for Alfred Hitchcock on the first British sound film, 1929's Blackmail.
He was nominated for Oscars with director David Lean as co-writer of 1945's Brief Encounter and 1946's Great Expectations.
He went on to direct the acclaimed 1969 film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and the critically panned 1972 box office hit The Poseidon Adventure.
Tropical storm Celia
Tropical Storm Celia has formed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico, although forecasters say it is expected to remain well offshore.
The National Hurricane Centre in Miami said Celia was about 355 miles south-southeast of Acapulco, Mexico, with winds reaching about 65 kph.
The depression is moving to the west-southwest at about 8 kph.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Blas was still swirling 455 miles south of the southern tip of Baja California. Its winds were about 100 kph, but forecasters said it would probably get weaker.
Thousands march and dance in Gay Pride
Tens of thousands of gay, lesbian and other revellers marched and danced in Berlin for the German capital's annual gay pride celebration, which features a colourful parade through the heart of the city.
Under the motto 'Normal is Different', an estimated 250,000 people lined the route for the Christopher Street Day parade today, as some 50 floats carrying dancers wove through the city streets.
Christopher Street Day commemorates the start of the gay rights movement in New York's Greenwich Village in 1969 and the parade generally draws large crowds in Berlin, which has a history as a gay metropolis going back as far as the 19th century.
Burma denies nuclear intentions
Officials in Burma have sent a letter to the UN nuclear agency insisting it has no current or future plan to develop a nuclear programme - the country's second denial this month.
The military government has denied similar allegations in the past, but suspicions have mounted recently that the impoverished nation has embarked on a nuclear programme.
Burma's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Win Tin, dismissed the allegations as "groundless and unfounded" in a letter yesterday. The foreign ministry also issued a denial on June 11.